The great pitching continued. Matt Cain had a no-hitter through 7.1 innings. Beautiful. He ended up going the distance: 9 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. Cain is the go-to guy...officially. After the Rockies scored ten runs the previous night, and amid all of the talk about juiced balls, Cain was able to silence the Rockies' bats. Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez combined for one hit in eight at-bats. Cain's ERA is down to 2.95, and his quality start percentage, 75%, is tied for fourth in the NL.
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| John Hirschbeck's Inconsistent Strike Zone |
The Giants managed to do well, both offensively and on the mound, despite an inconsistent strike zone by John Hirschbeck. You can look at the plots here.
The offense got going early, when Freddy Sanchez hit a two-run homer in the second at-bat of the game. In the third inning, Aubrey Huff led off with a double, but got caught in a pickle on a Buster Posey groundball. Huff didn't give up, though, and managed to reach third base without getting tagged. He later scored on a Burrell sac fly. Cody Ross, who was in the leadoff spot, hit a solo shot -- his second home run in the last two days -- in the 7th inning to extend his hit streak to nine games.
Meanwhile, Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen each grounded into a double play to break the franchise record for the Giants, who have now grounded into 154 double plays this season.
The Giants once again have sole possession of first place. The Padres got destroyed by the Reds, 12-2. While the Padres play tomorrow, the Giants will get yet another day of rest.
No more road games. No more Tulo. No more CarGo.
One final note, it's nice to see a couple hits from Huff. He's starting to get back into a rhythm.
ESPN's standings/odds:
As I said yesterday...
Coming into this series, winning two out of three seemed to be the obvious -- and reasonable goal. The Rockies are monsters at Coors Field, so sweeping would have been very difficult. But two of three is good. Two of three wins this series for the Giants, expands upon their lead over the Rockies, and keeps them in a good position in the NL West race. Tomorrow is a must-win for the Giants...or at the very least, a must-lose for the Padres. With only seven games left for the Giants, they don't want to be digging themselves a ditch right now.
They won two of three. The Braves lost. The Padres lost. The Giants are in great shape.
Six games left...
