Lincecum mows down Cardinals

~ The Giants' ace allowed two hits in a 10-0 victory.

ST. LOUIS -- Tim Lincecum looked ready for a return trip to Busch Stadium in two weeks for the All-Star game. The St. Louis Cardinals could not touch him.

Lincecum threw a two-hitter for his third complete game of the season, all in his last four starts, in the San Francisco Giants' 10-0 rout Monday night. Travis Ishikawa's three-run homer for a 4-0 lead in the fourth was way more than the right-hander needed.

"The way Timmy's been pitching lately, after the first run, I felt pretty comfortable," Ishikawa said.

Lincecum (8-2) is tied with teammate Matt Cain for the league lead in complete games, and his 2.37 ERA is second in the NL after mastering the punchless Cardinals with his third career shutout and fifth career complete game. He needed only 95 pitches to match his career low in a complete game and finished off the Cardinals in a snappy 2 hours, 6 minutes.

He faced only two three-ball counts all night and didn't walk a batter for the second time in three starts.

"Their tendencies against me were they don't get too deep in the count," Lincecum said. "Guys were swinging early and often, so I was just trying to give them pitches they couldn't hit out of the park."

Make that out of the infield.

Giants outfielders handled only seven chances.

"He's been on this roll for I don't know how many starts," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Tonight he did say it was one of his best games. I don't think he had a stressful inning."

The Cardinals were not arguing that point.

"He worked us over," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Everything looks the same until it gets to the plate."

Brad Thompson (2-4) took the loss for the Cardinals, who have lost five of six while scoring three or fewer runs in all of the setbacks.

Lincecum retired the first 14 in order, the early perfection ending when Rick Ankiel lofted a soft broken-bat single to center with two outs in the fifth, then mowed down five more before Albert Pujols doubled off the left-field wall with one out in the seventh. Then, the last eight Cardinals went quietly.

"I think he smells that," Giants catcher Bengie Molina said. "He's close to the end and he wants to finish the game."

Pujols was the only runner to reach scoring position for the Cardinals, who have totaled two runs in two games since acquiring Mark DeRosa from the Indians.

Edgar Renteria's three-run double capped a five-run seventh as the Giants batted around against rookie Clayton Mortensen, whose contract was purchased from Class AAA Memphis earlier in the day and made his major league debut. Only one of the runs was earned because of a throwing error by second baseman Skip Schumaker.