Wild weekend in baseball

From a hitting clinic to a 20-inning marathon, Saturday was just another wild day in baseball. But it was capped off with a no-hitter.

San Francisco Giants ace pitcher Tim Lincecum dominated on the mound again, tossing six shutout innings and allowing four hits while striking out seven batters. Lincecum lowered his ERA to a miniscule 0.90 as the Giants topped the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers 9-0 on Saturday afternoon.

But, it was not Lincecum’s pitching that started the wild weekend. Instead, the two-time Cy Young pitcher put forth his name in the running for the Silver Slugger Award as he registered three hits in four at-bats.

Lincecum, a career .137 hitter prior to Saturday, got on base in the second inning with a bunt single. An inning later, Lincecum came to the plate in a bases-loaded situation and stroked a single to right-center field, plating two runs.

Lincecum recorded a hit once more with a leadoff single in the fifth inning. He was unable to go 4-for-4 as he struck out swinging in the seventh inning.

Moving on from one Cy Young pitcher to another former Cy Young pitcher, Johan Santana of the New York Mets pitched seven solid innings, allowing just four hits and striking out nine batters.

For the next 11 innings, the Mets and Cardinals put up zeroes back and forth as each team went deep in their bullpen. The teams used a combined 19 pitchers in the game, where some had to go through two innings of work. For the first 13-2/3 innings, the Mets recorded just four hits, but in the last 6-1/3 innings, the Mets punched in six hits.

After going through their bullpen, the Cardinals started using their position players to pitch. Shortstop Felipe Lopez allowed a hit and a walk in his one inning of work; center fielder Joe Mather pitched two innings.

The Cardinals stranded a total of 22 runners on base as the team got only one run out of their 15 hits and 11 walks. First baseman Albert Pujols was the bright spot for the Cardinals, going 2-for-5 and walking four times.

The Mets broke a 1-1 tie in the 20th inning on a sacrifice fly from shortstop Jose Reyes, who finished with a 0-for-7 line.

The game was the longest in the majors since the 22-inning marathon exactly two years ago between the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres.

History has not been on the side of the Rockies, but on Saturday night, the team achieved its first-ever no-hitter in franchise history. For the Rockies ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez, it was a dream come true as he no-hit the Atlanta Braves in the 4-0 win.

Two weeks into the season, two pitchers had already flirted with the no-hitter and had fallen short of completing the task.

Jimenez, who had his potential perfect game broken up as he issued a walk to the second batter of the game, continued to walk batters in each of the first five innings. Despite allowing a total of six walks in the game, Jimenez was unhittable.

Braves first baseman Troy Glaus led off the seventh inning with a line drive, but with a speedy center fielder behind Jimenez, Dexter Fowler made a diving catch to preserve the no-hitter.

Entering the ninth inning, Jimenez retired 12 consecutive batters, but among the three batters due up, Jimenez had to face two of the Braves’ All-Star sluggers, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann.

Flashing the electric stuff, Jimenez induced a pop-up to second baseman Martin Prado and got Jones to fly out.

On Jimenez’s 128th pitch of the game, McCann hit a weak groundball to the right side; Jimenez raised his arms in elation as second baseman Clint Barmes tossed the ball to first baseman Todd Helton for the final out.

To finalize on the wild Saturday, the Washington Nationals’ 8-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers marked the first time in over two years when the club peaked above the .500 mark.