SAN FRANCISCO — Matt Cain came out and did his part, allowing two runs (one earned) in seven innings of work, but it wasn’t enough as the Giants fell at home Friday to the Braves 2-0. This was San Francisco’s fourth loss in a row.
Cain looked very strong through the first six innings and allowed zero runs while not giving up a single walk in that span. But then in the 7th inning with two outs and two men on, Cain gave up a single to Braves pitcher Jaime Garcia that scored Tyler Flowers. After a throw home from Brandon Belt bounced off of Flowers as he crossed the plate, Dansby Swanson scored from third to give the Braves a 2-0 lead. Those two runs turned out to be enough as the Giants continued their streak of ineffective hitting.
Manager Bruce Bochy said after the game that Cain pitched well but the offense just couldn’t do enough to give him any run support.
“[Cain] threw great, he did a real nice job,” Bochy said. “Good command, good breaking ball, located his fastball…mixed in the change very well. He’s been throwing the ball well. He’s really done a great job and he did again tonight. He gave us a chance to win and we got shutout but he did his part.”
San Francisco simply could not get a hit with runners in scoring position, going 0-3 in those situations, and had a total of just four hits on the night. The Giants have now scored a combined six runs in their last four games, with three different games of one run or less.
“We’re in this offensive struggle right now [with] six runs in four games,” Bochy said. “I thought we’d come home and get some rips in tonight but it didn’t happen. [Garcia] was good, he gets a lot of movement on his fastball and he’s got a good changeup. We didn’t hit many balls hard really, a lot of weak ground balls. The thing you’d like to see is some good cuts and I didn’t think we got enough of those in tonight. Just couldn’t do much offensively.”
Garcia had a lot to do with the Giants hitting woes continuing. He arguably pitched better than Cain, going 6.2 innings with five strikeouts, while allowing zero runs and just four hits. Jim Johnson finished off the night for Atlanta, striking out two Giants in a 1-2-3 9th inning.
The Giants will look to bounce back from their fourth-straight loss tomorrow night against the Braves, as Ty Blach will look to continue his recent good form against Mike Foltynewicz.