SAN FRANCISCO – Wednesday night’s Giants-Diamondbacks series finale had a distinctly 2012 NLCS feel to it.
There was rain, and there was Cain.
The Giants’ struggling No. 5 starter put together one of his strongest outings in recent memory and started a three-run rally with a double in the Giants’ 6-2 triumph over Arizona. Cain (1-1) earned his first win since August 6 of last season, striking out six and walking only two in a performance that at times recalled his days of dominance.
“Just a great night for Matt,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “I know Matty’s been through a lot. He’s really been battling to get on track.”
When Cain finally did falter in the sixth, Cory Gearrin picked him up by stranding two runners with three straight strikeouts.
The victory gave the Giants their first series win of the 2017 season, and over the team atop the NL West to boot.
At first, it didn’t appear Cain was in for a feel-good evening. A.J. Pollock roasted the right-hander’s second pitch of the night into Triples Alley for a leadoff three-bagger and scored a batter later on David Peralta’s sacrifice fly.
Cain then walked two of the next three batters, sending waves of grumbling throughout AT&T Park. But Brandon Drury grounded to Brandon Belt, who flipped to a sprinting Cain at the bag to retire the side in his most troublesome full frame of the night.
“I wasn’t that far off [in the first],” Cain said. “I could tell that the stuff was moving good. It was just a little off the plate and guys were being patient. I had to show those guys that I was going to be able to throw strikes to get them swinging a little bit.”
The 32-year old’s stuff picked up in the second and peaked in the fourth when the D-Backs went down in order on just eight pitches. Then in the fifth, it was time for Cain to harken back to the days when he was one of the best hitting pitchers in the big leagues.
Facing enigmatic Arizona right-hander Shelby Miller, Cain found the left-center field gap for his second hit of the season and his first extra-base knock since homering against the Reds on July 26 a season ago. Leadoff man Denard Span followed with a frozen rope single to center that Cain read perfectly, racing home to tie the score at one.
Hunter Pence’s beautifully placed opposite field single would score Span later in the inning, and Connor Gillaspie—filling in for the resting Eduardo Nuñez—added a run-scoring hit of his own to push San Francisco’s lead to 3-1.
Cain would not record another out but finished his night after five plus innings, with five hits allowed, six strikeouts and one standing ovation from 41,656 adoring fans.
“Greatly appreciated,” Cain said of the moment.
With a heavy mist coating the air, Gearrin walked into a first and second, no out jam in his relief of Cain but was unfazed. Gearrin breezed through Drury, Chris Owings and Jeff Mathis for the three biggest outs of the night, sporting a 92 mile per hour fastball and nasty sinker/slider combination.
“That was the big turning point in the game right there, Cory coming in and shutting that inning down,” Cain said. “That was a huge moment, [him] bailing me out.”
George Kontos chipped in an encouraging appearance as well, retiring the potential tying run Paul Goldschmidt in the seventh on a comebacker that Kontos squeezed in the uppermost tip of his glove.
The series win leaves the Giants at 4-6 entering their first meeting with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday at China Basin. Madison Bumgarner (0-1), coming off a complete game loss against San Diego, will toe the rubber with an eye on extending the Giants’ recent run of sturdy starts. Jon Gray is expected to oppose for Colorado with a 7:15 pm PT first pitch.
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