Cain Handcuffs Offense as Giants Edge Phillies
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Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels dueled with Giants’ Matt Cain as Cain stiffled the Phils offense holding them to a run and spreading out 4 hits while pitching into the eighth inning. Hamels gave 2 runs on 6 hits over 7 2/3 innings an deserved a better fate than losing his 6th game along with his 12 wins. Ex-Phil centerfielder Aaron Rowand tripled in the Giants 1st run in the third inning while rightfielder Nate Schierholtz doubled in the winning run in the seventh. Rightfielder Domonic Brown’s 1 out single drove in the Phils’ only run in their seventh. Runners were few and far in-between for the Phils offense as catcher Carlos Ruiz went out twice with runners on base grounding out to end the second inning leaving 2 on and grounding into a doubleplay with Brown on 1st in the seventh. The Phils had shortstop Jimmy Rollins at 2nd base in scoring position with 2 outs in the eighth against lefthanded reliever Javier Lopez, but 2nd baseman Chase Utley flied out to centerfied to end the inning. Closer Brian Wilson set the zPhils down in order in the ninth inning as Cain handcuffed the offense as the Giants edged the Phillies by 2-1 to knot the 3 game series at 1 win apiece.
With the loss, the Phils’ NL East lead dropped to 5 games over the 2nd place Atlanta Braves who edged the Pittsburgh Pirates again in extra innings. The 3rd place Mets moved to 12 1/2 games back, while the 4th place Florida Marlins improved to 14 1/2 games back and 1 1/2 games ahead of Washington by nipping the Nationals.
AP’s game recap for Yahoo sports summarized the game:
Rowand helped the Giants strike first when he sliced an opposite-field triple into the right-field corner in the third for a 1-0 lead.
Jeff Keppinger doubled to lead off the seventh and Cody Ross, the NLCS MVP, walked. Nate Schierholtz followed with a low liner and right fielder Domonic Brown took a weird route before failing on a diving attempt, helping the Giants extend the lead to 2-0.
Hamels, who threw eight shutout innings in his last start against San Diego, escaped the rest of the [seventh] inning without further damage after loading the bases with no outs. Rowand grounded into a double play to end the rally.
Staked to a 2-0 lead, Cain ran into trouble in the seventh. Cain and catcher Eli WhitesideShane Victorino’s infield popup. They bumped each other and the ball was knocked into foul territory for a two-base error. Brown’s hard grounder deflected off first baseman Aubrey Huff and into right to make it 2-1. Carlos Ruiz hit into a double play to end the threat. couldn’t get out of each other’s way on
Cain allowed an unearned run and four hits before he was yanked when pinch-hitter Ross Gload reached on catcher’s interference leading off the eighth. Javier Lopez got three outs and Brian Wilson finished for his 32nd save and a combined four-hitter. The Giants have won 12 of 17.
For all of Wednesday’s scores and recaps, click here.
On Thursday, the Phils hope to continue their string of 10 straight series wins as Klye Kendrick is slated to oppose Giant ace Tim Lincecum and to face centerfielder Carlos Beltran, now in a Giants uniform as a result of the non-waiver trade between the Mets and Giants. Lincecum suffered from a stomach virus and thus had his start postponed from Tuesday’s opener to Thursday.
For all of Thursday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.
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