Arroyo’s defense helps Cain win
The baseball ricocheted off Matt Cain toward Christian Arroyo, the Giants’ hot prospect who nicely barehanded it and threw out Yasmani Grandal at first base.
Arroyo wasn’t done. He went over to help up Cain, who appreciated the gesture and went on to pitch six magnificent innings.
Cain was pulled because of right hamstring tightness just before the seventh, and the Giants’ bullpen preserved Monday night’s 2-1 victory over the Dodgers.
“He picked me up big-time,” Cain said of Arroyo in both a figurative and literal sense.
Arroyo’s take: “He ends up putting his arm up, and I’m like, ‘I guess I’ll help you up.’ He gives me a chest pump, and I was like, ‘Nice.’ I was kind of pumped up.”
Welcome to the big leagues, kid.
Creating extra buzz at the season’s first game between the rivals, Arroyo, 21, was called up from Triple-A Sacramento to make his major-league debut. Wearing No. 22 — Will Clark’s old number — he went 0-for-4 with three groundouts to second base and a strikeout, but made some nice defensive plays.
One helped stall the Dodgers’ eighth-inning rally.
Arroyo’s a shortstop by trade, but the Giants will rely on him at third base in a time of need. Their 6-13 start matched their worst in franchise history, and Arroyo was promoted to provide energy and a few hits.
The energy was there. The hits will come. Actually, Arroyo did contribute to the Giants’ first run, his grounder to the right side in the second inning sending Brandon Crawford to third base. Crawford, who had doubled, scored on Joe Panik’s sacrifice fly.
Hunter Pence, leading off in Bruce Bochy’s revamped lineup, singled home a run in the seventh.
Arroyo’s biggest defensive play came in the eighth when he smothered Chris Taylor’s grounder that was heading to left field. Arroyo’s throw to second got a forceout, and Panik nearly turned a double play.
The Dodgers scored on the play, but Derek Law struck out Andrew Toles and Posey threw out Taylor trying to steal. Mark Melancon pitched a scoreless ninth for the save, the game ending when Posey caught Justin Turner loafing off second base.
On a day Madison Bumgarner explained to reporters his dirt-bike accident that shelved him indefinitely and created a big hole in the rotation, Cain was dynamic on the mound. He surrendered two hits, struck out three and walked one.
Cain required just 70 pitches to complete six innings but walked off the field with a trainer before he could throw a pitch in the seventh. Cain said he felt the hamstring — the same one that shelved him last year — on the final pitch of sixth. He tried to throw warm-ups before the seventh, but didn’t feel right.
With Cain exiting when he did, the Giants’ hope is that he’ll make his next start. On the ricochet play, the ball off Grandal’s bat drilled Cain on his right foot. An X-ray was negative.
Arroyo, who was “completely caught off guard” with the news of his promotion, said his mother, Kim Drummond, couldn’t stop crying. She and Arroyo’s father, Israel, are expected at Tuesday’s game.
“It finally hit her after a couple of times I said, ‘I promise you, I’m not lying to you,’ ” Arroyo said of the conversation with his mother. “It’s kind of a big moment.”
That he’s wearing 22 also is big. Arroyo wore it in Little League, high school and minorleague stops and actually asked Clark permission for the number, which he wore in spring training.
“I know the history of Will wearing it,” Arroyo said. “I actually asked him if that number were available, if I could wear it. Obviously, there’s a bunch of fans who think that number should be retired, and reasonably so. Will Clark was an amazing player.”
Clark was OK with it and sent a text to Arroyo before the season.
“I told him there are a lot more hits in that number,” said Clark, who was at the game.
Arroyo’s response: “I just told him I hope you didn’t take them all.”