For the second time this series the San Francisco Giants found themselves in a pitcher’s duel against the Arizona Diamondbacks as Matt Cain and Daniel Hudson were battling back and forth the majority of the game. Fortunately Cain was on the winning side of the battle as the Giants swept the D’backs by a score of 3-2 at AT&T Park.
Cain (W 3-2) pitched very well, lasting for 7.2 innings with 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. He even took a pitch off his throwing hand in the seventh while attempting a bunt but stayed in the game. The runs to his credit were plated by Jeremy Affeldt and Ramon Ramirez in the eighth, but it was looking like it might have been a shutout for the most of the game. Javy Lopez got the save in the ninth, his first of the year.
Skipper Bruce Bochy showed why he is a lunep genius again by putting Nate Schierholtz and Eli Whiteside in the lineup today, and both of them were very productive. Whitey was 2-4 with two doubles while Schierholtz was 3-4 with a double and a RBI. Nasty Nate also gunned out Gerardo Parra on a ball off the wall as he was digging for second. Andres Torres had an RBI double in the 7th followed by Aubrey Huff RBI single for the Giants three runs.
Daniel Hudson (L 3-5) was on point as well, lasting for 6.2 innings allowing 3 runs on 7 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. A Stephen Drew infield single and a Justin Upton single plated the D’backs two runs.
Today was Cain’s first win at home this season, capping off a perfect homestand for the G-Men.
With the win the Giants move to 21-16 on the year, taking a half a game lead over the Rockies in the NL West. Full box score can be found here.
The Giants will now head to the Windy City for a 3 game set with the Chicago Cubs starting Friday, with Madison Bumgarner (0-5 4.21 ERA) still searching for his first win against Ryan Dempster (1-4 7.20 ERA) for the Cubs. First pitch is set for 11:20 PT tomorrow morning and can be found on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.