Cain recalls gloried past in slaying demons, Cubs

For the first time in 11 months, Matt Cain is a winner.

Another quality start and some timely hitting offset some shaky bullpen work as the Giants clipped Chicago 5-3 on Saturday at AT&T Park.

That day Matt Cain rememebered he was Matt Cain. (Getty Images)

Some of that timely hitting came from the longest-tenured Giant. Cain had a two-run double to go with six innings of six-hit work, notching his first victory since last July 22 of last year. The win kept Friday's blowout, a loss that interrupted an eight-game win streak, from turning into a losing streak.

Yep, that's how winning teams do it; pile up the wins when you can, don't let losses turn into extended droughts; maybe dole out a little El Niño action, right?

The surging Giants have won nine of their last ten and sit atop the NL West at 26-19. Colorado, 5-1 winner over Pittsburgh, is 3 1/2 games back. Los Angeles got walked off by San Diego for the second night in a row (3-2 in 11 innings) and is 4 1/2 out.

No one uses "arrears" anymore. We did just because it sound like it should be a funny word. 

Having essentially lost the last two seasons to injury, Cain was positively awful in his first six starts of 2016. The last three? He's starting to look like, well, Matt Cain.

That the win came over Jon Lester, who spurned the Giants' free agent advances a year ago, was a bonus. Lester hadn't allowed three runs in an outing all season but surrendered five this time without getting past the third inning. Beating him in decisive fashion was like having the hot chick at the gym rebuff an advance -- then face plant into a treadmill.

To further augment the fun, the Giants prevailed with a short bench and a makeshift line-up on national television. Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence sat out with achy hamstrings, and Brandon Belt got a day off. The resulting tweaks put Trevor Brown behind the dish (sliding Buster Posey over to cover first base), put Gregor Blanco in right, and gave Kelby Tomlinson his first Major League start in left.

Just another boring afternoon at The Big Phone.

The Giants got rolling with some two-out magic in the second. Brandon Crawford tapped an infield single and Blanco walked before Lester went 3-2 on Cain; the fourth three-ball count in nine batters. Cain unloaded, snapping a personal 0-for-46 (over two seasons) by one-hopping the center field wall to give himself a 2-0 edge.

He hits, he pitches, he does windows. Matt Cain, renaissance man.

What Cain failed to do was provide himself a shutdown inning, allowing a homer by Kris Bryant that cut the lead in half. San Francisco would promptly get that back -- with interest.

Appropriate Jon Lester analogy.

Buster Posey continued to show signs of emergence from a protracted slumber, following Joe Panik's double with a blast halfway up the left field bleachers. Matt Duffy, another slumbering Giant (it was there), singled and stole second, and Brown's single drove Duffy home. That was all, and it was enough.

Cain's evening was done after six innings and 105 pitches. He walked two against five strikeouts. Then it was the bullpen's game. Cory Gearrin allowed a run in the eighth before Javy Lopez put out the fire, and Santiago Casilla surrendered his customary home run (Dexter Fowler did the honors) before getting the final three outs.

Josh Osich also played a big role, proving to be extinguisher for the kerosene Hunter Stickland spread in the seventh.

The Cubs actually outhit San Francisco 10-9 and won the power battle, but the Giants did the superior job of grouping safeties. Posey and Crawford had two hits apiece, joining Cain as the day's hitting stars.

A win Sunday would give the Giants a third straight series win, and they'll send their ace to get it. Madison Bumgarner (5-2, 2.45 ERA) gets the call against Chicago's Kyle Hendricks (2-3, 3.51 ERA).

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