San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum's 2014 postseason debut was met with an abrupt exit in the eighth inning of the team's World Series Game 2 loss to the Kansas City Royals.
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Largely unused since a demotion to the bullpen in August, Lincecum saw game action for the first time in the playoffs Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium and retired the first five batters he faced -- two via strikeout -- before departing the game with tightness in his back.
Lincecum came into the game in the seventh inning with his team down by five runs.
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"I felt good. It was nice to get out there and compete a little bit, but outside of all that, what I'm really thinking about now is hurting myself," Lincecum told ESPN after the game. "It's all right now. We're just going to treat it and see how it feels tomorrow. But right now it just feels pretty stiff."
The Royals ended up winning the game and tying the series at 1-1 as it now shifts to San Francisco with Game 3 on Saturday.
Lincecum explained how the injury occurred after the game.
"The pitch before the last one, I felt something tighten up in my lower back," he said. "I just decided not to go any further."
Lincecum had pitched in just six games and 10.1 innings since being sent to the bullpen and Giants manager Bruce Bochy wasn't sure whether or not to attribute the tightness in his back to a long layoff.
"That's hard to answer -- I don't know," Bochy said while also stating if healthy Lincecum could see some more work in the middle innings later in the series. "But I will say he took an extended pen a couple days ago and really threw a lot of pitches to get himself ready. So it might have, I don't know. But I will say his first inning he threw the ball great. He was throwing the ball great up until that point, so it might be true."
Lincecum was a huge part of the Giants rise to prominence, picking up the NL Cy Young Award in back-to-back seasons in 2008-09 and having a hand in the 2010 World Series victory as a starter and then the 2012 Fall Classic triumph as a reliever.
Lincecum, who also has two no-hitters under his belt, has struggled for three straight seasons and finished the 2014 regular season with a 4.74 ERA.
Still, the right-hander is just glad to still be on a team in search of its third World Series in five years.
"I'm still on the roster," he said. "I still have an opportunity to get out there, and I just have to wait for that chance and be ready for it."
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