Cain has solid outing, but Giants fall to Cardinals 4-3.
Right-hander shows signs of return to form, but bullpen can’t hold lead against St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — Time will tell, but there might have been an important long-term victory for the Giants in a tough 4-3 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night — the new Matt Cain finally might have found the old Matt Cain.
It didn’t happen right away, but after a dicey first three innings in which Cain gave up six hits and two runs — with center fielder Juan Perez saving a third run with a spectacular, over-thewall basket catch — the veteran right-hander with the repaired elbow suddenly started to deal like the old days.
Cain, who entered the game with a 6.05 ERA in eight starts, retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced in a six-inning outing, and he gave way to the bullpen with the Giants leading 3-2. Alas, young relievers Josh Osich and Hunter Strickland couldn’t protect it. Osich gave up the tying run in the seventh, and Strickland surrendered the gamewinner in the eighth on Yadier Molina’s 100th career homer.
Manager Bruce Bochy, usually more dour after a defeat such as this one at Busch Stadium, was relatively upbeat, largely because of what he saw from Cain. Moreover, his club is still only two games back in the N.L. West through the first leg of this tough road trip.
“Matty really settled down and threw well,” Bochy said. “He started locating well, mixed up his pitches, and he gave us a great effort. He was close to getting a win there. We just couldn’t hold on. But it’s a good club we’re playing — they found a way to win. That’s why their record is what it is.”
In the bigger picture, getting Cain back on track could be a harbinger of better things to come as the stretch run intensifies. The pitcher said he thought he had a good rhythm all night but admitted it wasn’t nearly as consistent at the beginning as it was at the end. Catcher Andrew Susac concurred.
“I think he just started getting on top of the ball a little better and executing the secondary stuff down in the zone,” Susac said. “Early on, his stuff was up a little bit, and they were obviously trying to go the other way from the get-go.”
It nearly got Cain knocked out of the game. The second batter of the game, Pleasanton native Stephen Piscotty (Amador Valley High, Stanford), launched a ball to rightcenter that looked like a sure homer. But the athletic Perez ran back, planted his foot into the padded wall and launched himself up over it, snaring the ball with a basket catch that might have been the club’s outfield play of the year.
The Cardinals wound up scoring a run on two subsequent hits in the first inning, threatened in the second with two more singles, then added a second run when Piscotty hit a no-doubt homer to left with one out in the third. But suddenly, the line drives and deep fly balls stopped as Cain found his groove.
“I think if I could just stay in a good rhythm and cadence, it’ll be big for me,” he said. “I’ve checked out some things in the past, and that’s something I’ve always been able to do a good job of. So I just have to remember what I did tonight and the previous years and run with it.”
As for the game, it unraveled. Osich, who pitched a clean seventh Tuesday in the Giants’ 2-0 win, gave up a leadoff single to Tommy Pham. Brandon Moss then beat out an infield dribbler between the mound and first when there was a miscommunication on who was supposed to field the ball. After a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners up, Matt Carpenter hit a slow chopper to second with the infield in. Kelby Tomlinson came home with a throw, but Pham beat it to the plate, sliding under Susac.
“The throw was on the money,” said Bochy. “That ball just needed to be hit a little harder.”
Strickland bailed out Osich with two outs to keep it tied with a string of electric fastballs in the upper 90-mph range. But leading off the bottom of the eighth, Strickland started Molina with two sliders and hung the second one. Molina slammed it into the left field seats for his milestone homer.
“You try not to get into a pattern, and Molina’s a good fastball hitter,” Susac said. “The first slider he threw was good, the second one maybe got away from him a little bit.”
The game concluded in the bottom of the ninth with Madison Bumgarner being called on for the second straight day to pinch-hit, this time with two out and nobody on in the ninth. He struck out against closer Trevor Rosenthal, who recorded his 38th save, but Bumgarner took some mighty rips.
“We’re going for it there,” Bochy said. “He has more home runs than what I had on the bench. He got a hit last night, and I was going with the hot hand. I knew he’d give us some good swings, which he did.”
Nori Aoki will definitely n come off the disabled list for Thursday’s fourgame series opener in Pittsburgh. As for pitcher Mike Leake, still recovering from hamstring tightness, Bochy said, “I see him pitching in Pittsburgh.”