KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tim Lincecum emerged from hiding Wednesday night, only to quickly put in question his availability for the rest of this World Series.
Lincecum, the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner who has been buried in the bullpen this month, made his 2014 postseason debut in the seventh inning of the Giants’ 7-2 loss to Kansas City in World Series Game 2 at Kauffman Stadium. Nevertheless, he departed with two outs in the eighth inning with what he called tightness in his lower back.
“We’ll play it by ear, day-by-day,” said Lincecum, who had last pitched in a game in a Sept. 28 relief appearance. “See how I feel tomorrow.”
The right-hander, whose regular-season 4.74 ERA got him removed from the Giants’ starting rotation, did look good before sustaining the injury. He retired all five batters he faced and went to a 2-and-2 count on Salvador Perez before walking off the mound with a team trainer.
“He threw the ball well. He did,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “I mean, we’re going to need help in the sixth, seventh inning. I like the way he threw the ball today. It’s been a while since he pitched. But I thought overall, he looked good for the long layoff. So he can be in the mix.”
Lincecum said he felt the tightness on his next-to-last pitch to Perez, a fastball that Perez fouled off.
“I threw one more pitch and it didn’t feel too good,” Lincecum said, “so I decided to stop it.”
If the back prevents him from pitching, the Giants can deactivate him for the duration of the series and activate someone else.
With the World Series shifting to San Francisco for three games starting Friday night the designated hitter gets tossed so the pitcher can bat ninth in the NL city.
That means Billy Butler, the Royals’ full-time DH, turns into a pinch hitter as does the Giants’ Michael Morse, an outfielder, who was the Giants’ DH in the first two games of the World Series at Kauffman Stadium.
Either way, Butler isn’t moaning about the reduced action.
“I have had pretty good success in my career as a pinch hitter,’’ the right-handed hitting Butler said before he drove in two runs as the Royals evened the Series, 1-1. “My job every day is basically like four pinch hits.’’
A career .306 (11-for-36) pinch hitter with two homers, four RBIs and a .987 OPS, Butler could serve as a wonderful late-game pinch-hitting option for Ned Yost but understands the nature of the job.
“Usually, it’s in a big situation where it can decide the outcome of the game,’’ said Butler, who was batting .233 (7-for-30) with five RBIs in nine postseason games. “If it doesn’t work out, and pinch-hitting odds aren’t in your favor, you have to try and put a good at-bat together. It always doesn’t have a good outcome.’’
With Eric Hosmer at first, there is no chance outside of an injury that Butler will play the field in San Francisco.
Yost said he was encouraged about having Butler’s bat on the bench and said he wouldn’t shy away from using it early if a spot surfaced.
“I like Billy Butler on the bench coming into a situation. It could be the fourth inning, it could be the fifth inning or the sixth inning with guys in scoring position,” Yost said. “That could be the difference.’’
As for Morse, he goes from being in the lineup to a seat.
“It’s pretty fun, it’s totally different than going in and playing the field,’’ said Morse, a left fielder when not a DH. “I have to keep on my feet and keep in the game. You can easily pretty much focus too much on your at-bats. Playing defense, you can kind of wash you at-bats away and play defense. But DH is pretty fun.’’
As a pinch hitter, Morse delivered a game-tying homer in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Cardinals. For his career he is a .290 (18-for-62) with a homer and 15 RBIs off the bench.
In his first year with the Giants, Morse doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for seeing Willie Mays and Barry Bonds stroll through the Giants’ clubhouse.
“Willie told me about a little bit of hitting, getting your hands through the ball and turning your back side and stuff. You can’t ask for a better guy to listen to,’’ Morse said. “He was actually writing something down on a piece of paper and all I could think about was saving the piece of paper but he crumpled it up. After he threw it away I was like, ‘Ah man.’’
“It’s amazing to see guys like that come around. It makes a great atmosphere.’’
MLB announced the Mariano Rivera Award and the Trevor Hoffman award before Game 2.
Greg Holland, the Royals’ closer, won the Rivera Award as the AL’s top reliever. Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel was the Hoffman Award winner as the best NL reliever.
