Mercury News
Matt Cain the warhorse. Matt Cain the bulldog. See something else in the menagerie you like? Pick that, too.
Cain has the stuff, the temperament and the stone-cold eyes of a pitcher who could keep sawing off bats deep into October. And in one of the biggest turning-point games of the Giants' season, Cain pitched like an absolute beast to get them one step closer to the playoffs.
The laconic kid from Tennessee got within five outs of the second no-hitter in Coors Field history but settled for a complete game while hammering a pine box for the dangerous Colorado Rockies in a 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon.
The Giants enter the final week of the season as a first-place team once again, a half-game in front of the San Diego Padres. It's the fourth lead change in five days atop the wild, wild NL West.
The Giants stand there because of a 43-38 record away from AT&T Park -- their first winning mark on the road since 2004 -- and a 4-2 trip that included a series victory in their most hostile venue.
"I've been here a lot. I know how leads can evaporate," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But we had the right guy out there. He was a bulldog and he did all he could to get this done."
Freddy Sanchez played despite an ailing shoulder and hit a two-run home run in the first inning, and Cain held the Rockies hitless until the eighth. With one out, shortstop Juan Uribe double-clutched after fielding Jay Payton's infield single. confrontations with Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki. Gonzalez singled for the only hit by Colorado's torrid tandem. But Cain retired Tulowitzki on a pop-up and froze Jason Giambi with a curveball to end it. It was his eighth strikeout, all coming in the fifth inning or later as he switched to more breaking stuff. "He had pinpoint accuracy with everything," catcher Buster Posey said. "If I wanted a ball down, it was down. If I wanted it up, it was up." Tulowitzki said: "Obviously, their staff is stacked. Early on, he was good. And later on, he was just as good." Cain had taken a no-hit bid into the eighth inning once before, in 2006 against the Angels. It got broken up with four outs to go. This time, he was confident he'd see it through. "I felt I had good enough stuff," said Cain, who settled for his 12th career complete game. "I felt I still had enough oomph at the end to be able to throw the ball down in the zone and throw pitches where I wanted to. "It didn't work out, but we won, and that's what we needed to do." The Giants got everything they wanted, needed or could possibly desire on another feverishly splendid day in the stretch drive. Not only did the Padres lose, but so did the Atlanta Braves, who entered the day tied with the Giants atop the NL wild-card standings. They even got to rest closer Brian Wilson, who was available and began warming up despite throwing 36 pitches over three innings a night earlier. "I was doing all I could to stay away from Willie," Bochy said. "But if Matt needed help, we were ready." The Giants added a run in the third inning on Pat Burrell's sacrifice fly, which Aubrey Huff set up by refusing to give himself up in a rundown. Huff slid safely into third as shortstop Tulowitzki floated his throw. Cody Ross, whose leadoff walk preceded Sanchez's homer in the first, added a solo shot in the seventh. It added up to the Giants' seventh consecutive victory behind Cain, and their 12th in his past 14 starts. Before Mora's pinch homer, Cain also had a streak of 20 scoreless innings. Cain has taken a no-hit bid into the seventh five times in his career, and it seems a matter of time and circumstance before he achieves one. But while Uribe lamented double-clutching on Payton's infield hit, saying he should have gotten the out, Cain didn't dwell on it. "It would've been great if it happened, but you've got to get guys out," Cain said. "We had the lead, and you've got to finish out the game." There were other sources of satisfaction. The Rockies all but acknowledged their season was over after falling 41/2 games out. "We put ourselves in good position," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "Then we did ourselves in."
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