Tim Lincecum had the shortest start of his career Sunday, failing to make it out of the second inning against the Dodgers while allowing five runs and recording four outs.
Early on this season Lincecum had a fantastic ERA despite poor velocity and underwhelming strikeout and walk rates, all of which has caught up with him lately.
Since shutting out the Dodgers for seven innings on May 20 to lower his ERA to 2.08, the two-time Cy Young winner has allowed 22 runs in 27 innings while striking out 23 and walking 15.
Sunday afternoon’s start was the fourth time in eight outings that he’s failed to complete five innings and he hasn’t completed six or more innings in back-to-back starts since May 3 and May 8. His strikeout rate is a career-low 7.1 per nine innings, his walk-rate is a career-high 4.4 per nine innings, and his average fastball is down to 87.3 miles per hour at age 32.
Lincecum has been trending in the wrong direction for several seasons now, but he looks awfully close to no longer being a viable rotation option for the Giants with Jake Peavy set to come off the disabled list and Matt Cain soon to follow.
