Giants' Tim Lincecum pulled after one inning because of neck stiffness

 

Tim Hudson threw one scoreless inning in his spring debut, Tim Lincecum was pulled after an inning because of stiffness in his neck and Milwaukee starter Matt Garza pitched three innings in the Brewers' 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.

Khris Davis drove in two runs, Luis Jimenez had two hits and drove in a run and Gerardo Parra had two hits for the Brewers.

Brandon Belt homered among his two hits, walked and scored twice for the Giants. Casey McGehee had two hits, upping his average to .467, and Brandon Crawford drove in a run.

Lincecum said he felt his neck go immobile while he was warming up. He said he could not move his head to the left, which flattened out his pitches.

"It was frustrating not being able to go three innings and get the work in," Lincecum said. "I could have gone back out, but nothing good would have come out of it."

Lincecum has allowed runs in each of his three appearances. He gave up three on three hits against the Brewers.

Hudson gave up a hit, walked a batter and struck out one. Garza gave up two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out two.

"I ironed some things out," Garza said. "I grinded through the first two innings and found a rhythm in the third."

STARTING TIMES

Brewers: Garza said he spent the offseason studying video with his brother Michael, a high school baseball coach, and noticed a few things that needed to be fixed. "Stuff gets exposed and leaves you open to injury," Garza said. "That's what I was doing. So I altered my mechanics and changed my delivery to become more consistent. I can judge what my body is doing and that's refreshing. I haven't been in control before." Michael, three years younger, trains with Garza and knows his pitching style better than anyone else. "It's part of the reason my change hasn't fully developed. I feel better about it now. You have to find ways to alter, change and adjust as you start to get older."

Giants: Hudson had to cover first base on his first batter of the spring, the same thing that happened to him last spring after returning from a broken right ankle suffered covering first with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013. "I knew it was going to be the first play. I'm surprised it wasn't bang-bang, or I had to jump or do a cartwheel to make the play." Hudson said he feels he's in better shape now than he was last spring and that he's a little ahead of where he was. "I arrived in shape and now I want to build my pitch count up to pitch 6,7,8 innings. My ankle feels fine. It is a non-issue at this point. I don't even think about it any more."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Brewers: C Jonathon LaCroy (mild strain of right hamstring) continues doing baseball-related work with the exception of running.

Giants: With reliever Sergio Romo ready to pitch, OF Hunter Pence (fracture in left forearm) is the only player on the sidelines. He is excepted to miss about two weeks of the regular season. Romo will throw to hitters at least one more time this week. Lincecum will be evaluated further by team doctors.