San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Cain Shows Improvement Despite Long Balls

On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss Cain improving but still being hurt by the longball, Span heating up in the second half, and another round of injury updates.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Tuesday, the Giants evened their series with the Cincinnati Reds at a game apiece, winning a thrilling 9-7 decision. Matt Cain (2-6) earned his 99th career win, while rookie Cody Reed (0-6) is still searching for his first career victory after another loss. Santiago Casilla closed it out for his 22nd save.

The Los Angeles Dodgers also came away with a W on Tuesday, winning a 3-2 nail-biter over the Tampa Bay Rays for their third straight win. The Giants started the day with a 2.5-game lead, and it stayed that way for another day.

Here’s what went on Tuesday.

1 – Cain Bit By Long Ball Again, but Shows Improvement

In Cain’s return from the disabled list last week against the Boston Red Sox and baseball’s best offense, the Horse was hit very hard. He gave up six hits and five runs, including a trio of home runs, taking another loss as a furious Giants’ rally fell short. He was back on the mound Tuesday, and showed a good bit of improvement.

The first four innings for Cain were very solid, as he gave up just two hits and one run (a solo home run), while striking out four compared to just one walk. The home run was even somewhat forgivable, as Joey Votto somehow squared up a fastball that was fairly well above the strikezone.

But as fifth inning started, Cain’s lack of arm strength began to come into play. The fifth inning still wasn’t awful, as he only gave up a pair of singles that led to a run, but the sixth inning started a bit of unraveling. A leadoff single to Votto was followed up by a home run from former teammate Adam Duvall, and Cain’s night was over.

Cain could be an important figure for the Giants as the season wears on. A Cain that can get through six solid innings on an every-fifth-day bases would be huge, and Cain has shown that that pitcher is still in there. Maybe as he continues to build arm strength back up, that Cain can make a comeback.

Oh yea, and he hit a three-run bomb in the second inning, his first home run since 2012. Not too shabby.

2 – Span Heating Up for the Second Half

Denard Span‘s first half-season with the Giants didn’t quite go as what was planned when he signed a three-year, $30 million contract this offseason. At the All-Star break, Span was slashing just .248/.328/.343, owned a career-worst 13.5 percent strikeout rate, and was stalling more rallies than he was starting. Since that break, Span’s bat has heated up and he’s starting to look more like the leadoff man from his days with the Minnesota Twins and Washington Nationals.

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In 10 games since that four-day hiatus, Span is slashing .318/.375/.364, and is striking out in just 6.3 percent of his plate appearances. He has six multi-hit games, and more walks (four) than strikeouts (three).

Most importantly for Span is his decreasing strikeout rate. In the 28 games that led up to the break, he struck out 29 times in 133 plate appearances, a 21.8 percent rate, raising his overall rate on the year to 13.5 percent. But in the past 10 games, he’s dropped the rate nearly a full percentage point, down to 12.7. He’s also started to go to the opposite field a lot more, collecting hits to left field with higher frequency.

Span is another key figure that the Giants are going to need down the stretch. If this is the start of a good second half, the Giants will have themselves a very solid leadoff hitter.

3 – Even More Injury Updates

After a day off on Monday, the River Cats were back in action and featured three rehabbing Giants in their lineup.

• Hunter Pence played a full nine innings in right field for the first time in his rehab, and picked up three hits in five at-bats, including his second home run of the assignment. He’s hitting .500 so far on the stint, and looks about as Hunter Pence-ish as a man can look.
• Ehire Adrianza was also on the field for all nine innings again, now a normal thing for him. He picked up a pair of hits in his six at-bats, dropping his average down to a measly .361 during his rehab trip. He looks ready to come up whenever the Giants decide to make the call (if they do), but still has a week left on his clock.
• Joe Panik was back on the field on Tuesday, and was at second base for his scheduled five innings. He went hitless in his three at-bats after having a hit overturned into an error.
• Cory Gearrin is set to throw a bullpen on Wednesday, and if all goes well, he’ll go on his own rehab assignment. Matt Duffy also is close to rehab. The only test left to pass is running the bases, and then he’ll be set for an assignment.
• This has nothing to do with a rehabbing Giant, but Kelby Tomlinson picked up four hits, including a double, and drove in a pair of runs on Tuesday for Sacramento. He has a six-game hitting streak with the River Cats, and is hitting .500 in that span. Should the Giants fancy or need it, he seems to be about ready to come back to the big leagues.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Belt Enjoys Home, Night Train Still Rolling

And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Reds close out their three-game set with a day game. Madison Bumgarner takes the hill for San Francisco, meeting against Dan Straily.