SAN FRANCISCO– There was a time, way back when, in which Giants fans were excited to see both Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain take the hill.
That’s far from the truth today. It’s likely that many of the 40,783 fans in attendance at AT&T Park on Thursday let out a collective sulk after finding out that Bumgarner was scratched with flu-like symptoms and Cain would be starting in his place.
Still, whether it’s Bumgarner in his prime, Cain far past his, or anyone in-between that is taking the mound, a pattern has developed for the 2017 Giants: they don’t score enough runs and they don’t win many games. That continued on Thursday, with the Giants losing 5-2 in the first of a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
A two-run home run off the bat of Randal Grichuk ignited the Cardinals early, who move to 67-66 on the season with the win and remained in the thick of the race for the second National League Wild Card playoff spot.
Grichuk’s home run into the left-center bleachers ended up being the only runs the Cardinals mustered off of Cain, who battled through 5.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits.
“They gave me a heads up yesterday that I could start today,” Cain said following the game. “I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do. If they want me to start, I’m going to start. If they don’t want me to start, I’m going to go in the pen and help out down there.”
It was a commendable effort from the right-hander, who was given the start on short notice. In his last outing on Sunday — out of the bullpen — Cain got shelled in Arizona, allowing eight earned runs in two-thirds of an inning pitched. He got back on the saddle on Thursday, and even with the Cardinals’ bats making some loud contact and getting a couple runs on the board, Cain gave the Giants’ bats a chance to come back.
“He really did grind through five for us,” Bochy said following the game. “Late notice against a contending ballclub, he gave us five innings, two runs. I’ll take that anytime.”
They didn’t. Two hits followed by a Carlos Moncrief sacrifice fly put the Giants on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it wasn’t enough to bail out Cain, who moved to 3-11 on the season.
Michael Wacha wasn’t scratched from his start, and he rolled on Thursday, allowing one earned run in six innings of work to earn his 10th win of the season.
A Joe Panik error led to an unearned run for St. Louis in the top of the seventh inning. The Cardinals tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth inning off of Mark Melancon to take a 5-1 lead.
The four-run lead was enough of a cushion for the Cardinals bullpen against a Giants offense that was unable to put a crooked number on the scoreboard. In the bottom of the ninth inning, a Brandon Crawford double (reversed from a home run) brought the score to 5-2, but it was too little, too late for the Giants. After scoring a combined 10 runs in their recent six-game road trip, the Giants’ bats once again couldn’t break through on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, we’re just not swinging the bats very well right now,” Bochy said
Buster Posey returned after missing the past three games with a thumb injury. As has been the case for much of the season, Posey wasn’t the problem for the Giants offense, finishing 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Some good news: Johnny Cueto is set to return on Friday for his first start with San Francisco since July 14. Perhaps Cueto’s presence back on the mound can help ignite a resurgence for his teammates at the plate.
