SAN FRANCISCO — Hours before Matt Cain even threw a pitch on Tuesday night, Bruce Bochy wouldn’t address the right-hander’s status in the rotation. A reporter asked the Giants manager how much scrutiny Cain was under going into his second start off the disabled list, and Bochy quickly refuted: “I won’t even go there.”
That’s Bochy’s M.O., especially for a player like Cain, who’s career blossomed under his tutelage. He wasn’t going to put his pitcher on blast, and Cain’s roundabout way of rewarding Bochy was pitching into the sixth inning despite allowing four runs.
“I knew it wasn’t that bad,” Cain said when asked about having an extra sense of urgency after his last start. “(The Red Sox) are swinging the bat hot over there, and same thing with these guys … you’ve just got to go in there a fine-tune the focus a little bit more.”
Cain lapsed most noticeably for two pitches, both of which left AT&T Park. Luckily he was padded by a lead he largely built himself. The right-hander walloped a three-run homer in the second inning to cap off a four-run frame that the Giants parlayed into a 9-6 win. Cain 2-6, 5.95 ERA) wasn’t brilliant, but good enough on a night the Giants offense showed life with runners in scoring position.
Fittingly it was Cain who sparked that life with runners on base. His three-run homer was the seventh of his career and first since 2012.
“I knew it felt good,” Cain said. “It had that good feeling off the bat, but you’re never really sure here.”
Apparently the Reds are sure though, to the tune of 10 home runs in their last 18 innings at ballpark most teams consider to be a power hitter’s wasteland. Adam Duvall and Joey Votto clubbed homers off Cain, beginning a power surge that ended with the Giants allowing 23 home runs in total since the All-Star break. Bochy’s been concise when addressing the issue over the past couple days, pointing to location mistakes as the only culprit.
Despite getting burned twice with poorly placed pitches, Cain said afterward he felt he did a better job keeping the ball off the middle of the plate. He gave up three home runs in his last start to the Red Sox, but at least managed to toss 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday compared to his 2 1/3 innings in Boston.
That preserved the arms of George Kontos, Derek Law and Javier Lopez a bit longer. They combined to shutout the Reds in the sixth and seventh innings, allowing the Giants to stay ahead even when Sergio Romo gave up back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning.
“That’s us,” Bochy said. “We don’t do anything easy.”
The wins have been hard to come by, both for Cain and the Giants. It’s the team’s second in their last 10 games, and Cain’s second of the season. Even with the dark home run cloud hanging over the Giants’ pitching mound, Cain applied a little bit of glue to his spot in the rotation.
Not that Bochy was looking to field questions about, but perhaps Tuesday is the last time he’ll have to for a while.
