SAN FRANCISCO -- Reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum will miss a start for the first time in his career on Tuesday night because of back spasms, clearing the way for top prospect Madison Bumgarner to make his big-league debut in the heat of a pennant race.Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Lincecum had not had any back problems before, but he had tightened up over the past couple days. The Giants decided to take the safe route with their ace, scratching him from his scheduled start against the Padres.
"Basically he needs a couple days, 24 to 36 hours," Bochy said. "We'll re-evaluate him then and put him back in the rotation."
Bochy said that Lincecum had actually improved from Monday to Tuesday, but it wasn't enough for the Giants to feel comfortable sending him to the mound.
Lincecum's next turn was to be Monday, the first game of next week's showdown series against the Rockies in San Francisco. If the Giants don't try to get Lincecum on the mound before that, he would still be able to start at least four more games, if the Giants don't use off days to skip anyone in the rotation. If they kept Lincecum on his fifth day, moving the other pitchers around him, they could have him available for the final game of the regular season. The Giants aren't likely to do that, though, because their whole rotation is so strong and they don't want to overwork their 25-year-old.Bochy said he didn't think he'd have any sort of restricted pitch count on Lincecum when he does come back.
Bumgarner, the Giants' top prospect and one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, spent this season at Single-A and Double-A. He had a combined record of 12-2 with a 1.85 ERA. In two minor-league seasons, Bumgarner is 27-5 with a 1.65 ERA. The left-hander was the Giants' No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft.
Bumgarner will remain in the big leagues the rest of the season, working out of the bullpen, Bochy said.
