Photo by Chris Mezzavilla/KNBR
SAN FRANCISCO–Matt Cain is the only Giants’ player who knows what perfection feels like.
And though Saturday’s start wasn’t the type of traditional 27-up, 27-down outing that perfection in baseball is defined by, the last start of Cain’s 13-season career was damn near as perfect as Cain could have ever imagined. Until he got “Cain’d.”
With closer Sam Dyson one strike away from sending Cain out as a winner, Padres’ catcher Austin Hedges launched a two-run double into the right center field gap to give San Diego a 3-2 lead and ultimately, a comeback victory.
For one of the hardest-luck pitchers in Major League history, Saturday’s game featured as cruel of an ending as the game could have ever scripted.
Back in 2005, Cain arrived at AT&T Park as a physically raw 20-year-old with a power fastball and a sense of youthful innocence that had yet to be jaded by the realities that come with grinding through 162-game seasons on an annual basis. On Saturday, Cain walked off the mound at the only home stadium he’s ever known for the final time as a soon-to-be 33-year-old with a unique place in Giants’ history that most athletes only dream about.
The original homegrown hero of the Giants’ golden era, Cain was a pillar the franchise built upon en route to earning three World Series titles, and a three-time All-Star who set the precedent for the strong pitching that became the foundation of San Francisco’s success. For the first eight seasons of Cain’s career, he was a bulldog with as sharp of a bite as any pitcher in the game. Despite being forced to navigate through four straight losing seasons after being called up to the Major Leagues, it was his right arm that helped lead the Giants back to prominence.
It was Cain who took the mound three times during the 2010 postseason, delivering 21.1 innings without allowing an earned run to lead the Giants to their first title in the San Francisco era. It was Cain who Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy turned to when the club faced a winner-take-all Game 5 in Cincinnati in 2012, a winner-take-all Game 7 against the Cardinals, and a series-clinching Game 4 in the World Series against the Detroit Tigers. And of course, it was Cain who stood in the center of the diamond on June 13, 2012, when the Giants received the single greatest pitching performance in franchise history, a perfect game against the Houston Astros.
Over the last five seasons, the rigors and reality of the job caught up to Cain. The building block of the early 2010s dynasty began to crumble. But even amidst the most challenging times of his career, Cain’s determination and competitiveness never wavered. The pitcher who endeared himself to Giants’ fans before he could legally endear himself to a bartender always battled, and this week, he decided Saturday would be his final fight.
The Giants were determined to send Cain out as a legend, and despite the fact he hadn’t pitched since August 31 and hadn’t been a factor in the Giants’ starting rotation since the end of July, Bochy gave Cain one final chance to start in front of a sea of fans decked out in No. 18 apparel.
“I tried to take it as easy as possible before the game and enjoy it like I always have and look at it as just another start, but that changed once Rags (Dave Righetti) came over to me about an hour and 15 before the game,” Cain said. “He said, ‘Hey let’s go over these guys,’ and it kind of hit me that this will be the last time that we get to do that. That’s when it started to settle in, doing that, and then putting on my uniform was when it started to lock in that hey, this will be the last time that we will do this for real.”
Gone were the days of Cain’s 95-mile per hour fastball, as those left the right-hander a decade ago. But back was the effectiveness that carried the Giants to the greatest heights the franchise has ever known. For a fleeting moment on Saturday, Cain channeled his upstart younger self, setting down the first six San Diego Padres hitters he faced.
On a day where he easily could have thrown an inning or two and called it a career, Cain gutted through five innings in the typical Cain fashion. On the final day of his career, Cain refused to be denied. Even after Cain allowed a leadoff walk to Padres’ left fielder Cory Spangenberg in the top of the fifth inning that drew Bochy to the mound, Cain told his manager to go back to where he came from. There was a job to finish, and for a player who rightfully earned the nickname “Horse,” Cain was prepared to put the Giants on his back and ride along to the end of the inning.
“I knew that he (Bochy) might have had it on his mind, that he was going to ask me how I was going,” Cain said. “I was done at that time. But I just told him, ‘I’ll get you a couple more outs, I’ll see, I’ll get you a couple more outs.’ And that’s when that little extra kind of kicked in and luckily I was able to get a few more outs and get through the inning.”
A 400-foot flyout, a strikeout and a groundout later, and Cain’s career as a San Francisco Giant was over. Five innings, no runs, and an ovation fit for a man who gave everything he had to the franchise that drafted him 15 years earlier.
A player who built a reputation on stoicism and toughness finally broke down. Before disappearing into the Giants’ dugout, Cain pounded his cap against his heart, and flung it into the stands. The Horse had officially reached the finish line.
“It’s pretty amazing what the man did today,” Bochy said. “I didn’t think he would go five today, with his lack of work and from the last week or 10 days or two weeks or whatever, he just had a will, a determination to find a way to do it.”
Of course, for Saturday to come to a fitting conclusion, the Giants had to ensure that for all of his hard work, Cain couldn’t receive the win. For a pitcher whose last name became a verb thanks to the tragically low run support the Giants put forth in his starts, Cain’s final outing ended with a no-decision in a brutal San Francisco loss.
After five spotless innings, Cain exited, and in the very next frame, rookie reliever Reyes Moronta allowed a solo home run to Wil Myers that tied the game. Ideal? Of course not. Ironic? Certainly.
“He never wavered, he never pointed the finger, he never got down on his teammates because of his character,” Bochy said. “You admire that too. What he had to deal with.”
Still, even though Cain turned in 77 career quality starts in Giants’ losses, making him the franchise leader in that category, San Francisco gave Cain another chance to enjoy his last day in the sun. In the bottom of the seventh inning, right fielder Hunter Pence singled up the middle to plate rookie Ryder Jones, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.
Pence was responsible for the Giants’ first run as well, after legging out a fielder’s choice that could have been a double play ball in the second inning. With Cain on his mound, Pence raced up the first base line, barely beating a throw from Padres’ second baseman Carlos Asuaje. The hustle allowed Pablo Sandoval to score the game’s first run, and gave Cain the confidence to work his way through five innings.
“Everything about this day was extremely emotional,” Pence said. “Even last night, I could feel the energy. I woke up in bliss just knowing that he was starting. It filled all of us up with some amazing emotions and we just love him so much. This was a very special day.”
In that fifth inning, Cain sent Bochy back to the dugout and induced one final groundout to preserve the Giants’ lead. Then, as he returned to the dugout, the Giants’ made sure to preserve the moment. Bochy stopped Cain short of the top steps, and embraced him in front of a cheering crowd. Buster Posey, Cain’s catcher of eight seasons, offered a trademark hug fit for a World Series win. Eventually, every Giants’ player and coach offered up their appreciation for Cain, with one of his closest friends, Madison Bumgarner, waiting for the final hug.
As fans begged for one final chance to salute him, Cain finally emerged from the dugout, tipping his cap once more. With his arms raised above his head, Cain’s final moment on the diamond was as close to perfect as a baseball player could fathom. After all, Cain would know.
But throughout his career, when Cain has come off the diamond, so many of his greatest games have come undone. Whether it be the Giants’ bullpen, or the team’s lack of offense, San Francisco has found a way to let Cain down in the most wicked of ways.
“He’s a hard one to go on the numbers,” Bochy said. “It was getting really crazy for lack of a better word that the games that he had where he just got no run support. Losing 1-0, 2-1 games like that. Getting us deep in the game. I mean, his nickname is the Horse for a reason. We were riding him pretty good in those games that he had to suck up a tough loss. You felt for him and then it happened again and then it happened again.”
On Saturday, the Giants did it again, and it was a vicious way to end it.