We all know by now that the San Francisco Giants love to keep their games close, but their matchup Saturday with the Cleveland Indians took it to another level. Both teams remained scoreless until an untimely balk by Cleveland's Justin Masterson in the seventh inning scored the game's only run as the Giants squeak out the 1-0 victory at AT&T.
Matt Cain (W 7-4) pitched lights out for seven full innings, allowing only four hits with no runs with one walk and six strikeouts. The Indians had legitimate chances a few times, but Cain managed to pitch his way out of it. Javy Lopez got his 13th hold of the season with his one hit work in the eighth, while Brian Wilson recorded his 23rd save of the year in unordinary 1-2-3 fashion. He's now tied with Colorado's Houston Street for tops in the NL for saves.
Justin Masterson (L 5-6) hasn't won a game since April despite pitching six and 2/3 innings of one run ball with only four hits allowed and five punch outs. He intentionally loaded the bases to face Emmanuel Burriss in the seventh, scoring Miguel Tejada. This was the eighth time the Tribe has been shut out this season, going 0-8 as a team with runners in scoring position.
The Giants didn't fare much better with the bats though, going 0-4 with RISP and having nly one extra base hit for the day, a Nate Schierholtz double. Nate was the only player for the G-Men to record more than one hit, finishing 2-3.
With the win the Giants move to 43-34 on the year. Full box score can be found here.
The Giants will go for the sweep at AT&T Sunday with Madison Bumgarner (3-9 4.06 ERA) on the mound to take on Fausto Carmona (4-9 6.17 ERA) for the Indians. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. PT with coverage on ESPN and KNBR 680 AM.
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