SAN FRANCISCO — In a homestand filled with nothing but one-run games and extra-inning affairs, one finally broke open. The Giants (39-26) won 9-4 against the Brewers (30-34), equaling their run total over the last three games. Matt Cain (1-5, 5.34) was ineffective over his three and two-thirds innings, but Albert Suarez rescued the bullpen with three and two-thirds innings of his own.
Here’s how Monday night unfolded, with more than a few eyes glued to the Warriors game at AT&T Park.
The big moment
When a Giants team goes 622 days without one of these, then hits two in six days, it deserves recognition. RIP Splash 69.
At the plate
The Giants wasted no time against Chase Anderson, slugging three of his first eight pitches for a home run, triple and RBI single to create a 2-0 lead after three batters. Span started the barrage with a booming splash down in McCovey Cove, registering at 107 miles per hour according to StatCast.
Joe Panik then crushed a fastball out near the 421-foot marker, and Brandon Belt singled him home on the next pitch. After Cain let the early lead slip away, the Giants’ bats answered again in the bottom of the third. Span responded with an appropriate sequel to his scorching splash hit: bunt single.
Posey reeled in Span by yanking a double over Ryan Braun’s head in left, and Matt Duffy followed with a sacrifice fly to score Panik. The Giants again staked a two-run lead that would be squandered. They went ahead for good when Brandon Crawford skied a sac fly in the sixth inning to score Posey, and the shortstop poured in two more runs with a two-out, two-strike single in the next inning.
The hit was the Giants 10th, their first double-digit game since tying a season-high with 17 hits against the Rockies on May 29. Five of the Giants 14 total hits came with two outs in the seventh inning, including a two-RBI single for Gregor Blanco to crack an 0-for-27 rut. Duffy added a third hit with an RBI single in the eighth to net the Giants an 11th run.
On the mound
On the four-year anniversary of his perfect game, Cain was far from it against the Brewers. He spiraled out of Monday night after just 3.2 innings, walking five on 83 pitches. It was Cain’s first start since going down with a hamstring strain on May 28, but he had been pitching well up to that point. He had a 1.59 ERA in his previous four starts.
Cain only let up three runs, but his command abandoned him early. A double play bailed him out of a couple two-out walks in the second inning, but Cain wasn’t as fortunate in the third. Again with two outs, the Brewers’ top three hitters strung singles together to load the bases. Cain walked Jonathan Lucroy to score the visitors’ first run, then lost Chris Carter on a full-count walk to score Scooter Gennett from third.
Ramon Flores walked with one out in the fourth inning, and scored on a Gennett double to draw Milwaukee within a run. Bruce Bochy made the last walk with Cain on the mound, yanking him with runners on second and third and two out.
In the ‘pen
For the second time in as many days, George Kontos was asked to face one hitter. He did it successfully on Sunday, his 31st birthday, and again on Monday when Braun grounded out with two runners on in the fourth inning. Albert Suarez entered in the fifth, and did everything Bochy could’ve hoped.
He plowed through the Brewers’ lineup as long as Cain did. Suarez allowed two runs on 56 pitches, scattering five hits along the way. The first run scored off Suarez was flukey, a product of a Jarrett Parker misplay and a double ticked off Belt’s glove. Bochy pulled Suarez with two outs in the eighth, unwavering from his matchup strategy in a four-run game (and a game approaching its fourth hour). Josh Osich entered and walked the only hitter he faced, before Derek Law ended the eighth inning with a strikeout, and finished the game.
On deck
The Giants turn to Madison Bumgarner (7-2, 1.88 ERA), pitching on extra rest against Matt Garza, who’s got a bit more than five days of rest. He’s making his season debut on Tuesday after being sidelined with a back injury. First pitch at 7:15 p.m. on KNBR 680.
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