SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
From Little League days, batters hear the phrase, "A walk's as good as a hit."
Pitchers don't often hear, "A walk's as good as an out," but in Friday night's 3-1 Giants win over Colorado, a base on balls issued by Matt Cain proved mighty beneficial to San Francisco.
The situation: Two on and two outs in the fifth inning. The Giants leading 3-1, with Cain facing Troy Tulowitzki, who had doubled in the previous inning, making him 18-for-53 (.340) lifetime against Cain.
On deck was Todd Helton, who at that moment was 11-for-52 (.212) lifetime against Cain.
After running the count full, Cain threw ball four to Tulowitzki.
"It's one of those spots where I know that he sees the ball well off me," Cain said. "I either wanted to make him chase or maybe get him to freeze or something like that."
Said Giants manager Bruce Bochy: "That's a case where a pitcher does not have to give in. He can keep trying to make his pitches and Matt did."
Cain said his previous success against Helton played into the walk to Tulowitzki "a little bit, but not really because Helton's one of those guys that always comes up big when you've got guys in scoring position."
Helton didn't deliver Friday night. Cain speared Helton's comebacker, and the Rockies had left the bases loaded.
Cain would allow a run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and retired the final seven batters he faced.
After giving up a combined nine earned runs over 12 innings in losses to Florida (on May 24) and Milwaukee (on Sunday), Cain improved to 4-4.
In their 12-7 win at St. Louis on Thursday, the Giants faced starter Lance Lynn, a right-hander making his major-league debut.
In China Basin on Friday night, the Giants faced starter Juan Nicasio, a right-hander making his second big-league appearance.
The Giants scored all their runs in the fourth. Freddy Sanchez dunked a one-out single to right. After Nicasio got Aubrey Huff on a flyball to center, Nate Schierholtz singled to center, setting the stage for Cody Ross.
Ross jolted a Nicasio pitch into the gap in left-center. Sanchez and Schierholtz rolled home on Ross' double to give the Giants a 2-1 edge. It became 3-1 when the next hitter, Brandon Crawford, hooked a double into the right-field corner.
Nicasio, who doubled twice, left after six innings. He allowed three runs on nine hits. In his debut last Saturday, Nicasio limited the Cardinals to an unearned run on six hits in seven innings as Colorado cruised 15-4.
Cain got help from his bullpen Friday night. Javier Lopez worked a one-two-three eighth.
Brian Wilson allowed the Rockies to put two men aboard with one out in the ninth, but he escaped the jam - striking out Seth Smith to end the game - to pick up his 16th save.
The NL West-leading Giants remained a half-game ahead of second-place Arizona, which handled the Nationals 4-0. Third-place Colorado fell 5 1/2 games off the pace.
No comments:
Post a Comment