Matt Cain had one of his better starts of the season tonight against a tough opponent. The Giants managed to hold the Cubs off and go on to win the second game of the four-game series 2-1. Despite allowing Chicago to score in the ninth inning, the Giants prevailed due to Cain’s quality start and timely defensive plays.
Cain had his best start of the season, and what is even better news is that it came against a consistently good opponent. He allowed just two hits over eight innings of work, and walked three while striking out ten batters. He improved his record to 5-6 and many Giants fans hope this could be the turning point for him in the season. With solid starts from Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, and Cain on a regular basis, San Francisco could contend for the division title. Leftfielder Fred Lewis made a great sliding catch in left-center field to end the sixth inning; an inning later centerfielder Aaron Rowand made a nice over the shoulder catch that prevented a run from scoring. Again in the seventh inning, third baseman Jose Castillo made a quick stop of a sharply hit ball by Mark DeRosa, and threw him out at first base with an off balance throw. Brian Wilson allowed the Cubs to score one run in the ninth inning, but held on for his twenty-third save of the season.
Lewis also helped out offensively, leading off the game in the first inning and coming around to score on a perfectly executed double steal to give Cain a 1-0 lead to work with. The Giants added another run in the fifth inning when Lewis again started the inning with a hit, this time a double. He would score on a single by Randy Winn to make it 2-0 in favor of the Giants. Lewis had half of San Francisco’s hits, the other two: the single by Winn, and a double by second baseman Ray Durham.
The Giants will look to earn at least a split of the series tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. Kevin Correia has struggled since coming back from the disabled list, but will get the start against Chicago’s Ryan Dempster.
