San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Cain Good, Offense Not, Other Thoughts
On the first edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss Matt Cain’s vintage start.
Good morning, San Francisco Giants‘ fans, and welcome to the first edition of a new series I’m going to be doing called the “San Francisco Giants Morning Minute”. The series will look back at the previous day’s game, and go through some observations from the action. The first edition is for Tuesday, May 10th’s game with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Giants’ dropped game two of their three-game set with the Blue Jays, 4-0, and will look to salvage the final game and avoid the sweep on Wednesday. Matt Cain took the loss for the Giants, remaining winless in five decisions, while J.A. Happ earned his fifth win in as many decisions for Toronto.
San Francisco drops under .500 again, at 17-18 on the year with their third straight loss.
1 – Matt Cain Finally Looks Really Good
Welcome back, Matty Cain! The former Giants’ ace entered the day in need of a strong performance on the mound, and he certainly delivered. Cain held the dangerous, albeit cold, Blue Jays’ lineup to six hits and two runs over eight innings, his longest start since late in the 2013 season. He looked like a new pitcher (or rather, an old version of himself).
His curveball was sharp and had quick break, his slider/cutter hybrid pitch was very good and got plenty of swing throughs, and he limited fastball mistakes way better than he had in his previous starts. It seems he found something to build on with his release point, and this is very exciting for the future. Cain gave his team a great chance to win, buuuuuuut…
2 – Oh Offense, Wherefore Art Thou Offense?
For the fourth straight game, the Giants’ lineup was colder than a penguin in the antarctic. They were shut out for the second time in three games, and have scored just three total runs in their last four games. Two of those runs came in extra innings on Sunday when the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies in 13 innings, so they’ve mustered one single, lonely run in regulation innings over the past four games. That is very not good.
A lot of key figures in the Giants’ lineup are going through bad slumps. During this four-game offensive disappearance, leadoff man Denard Span and Matt Duffy are both 2-14. Buster Posey is hitless in his last 18 chances. Joe Panik has two hits in 19 at-bats since returning from his mild groin strain. Gregor Blanco, Jarrett Parker, and Mac Williamson, the left fielders, are a combined 2-20 in the last four games.
So it’s not just one guy struggling. It’s a lot of key guys at the same time. As frustrating as it is to watch, those guys going through it feel a hundred times worse. There are some bright spots, though.
3 – Kelby Tomlinson Adjusting Well to New Role
Before this season, bespectacled Giants’ infielder Kelby Tomlinson had never known a bench role. Even when he received his first big league call-up last season, the only man in major league history to be named “Kelby” was playing just about everyday because of various injuries around the diamond. He didn’t seem to doing well in the diminished role early in the season.
In his first 12 games of the season, Tomlinson was 4-26, and had very little rhythm at the plate as he adjusted to playing in a less-regular role. Since then, when his at-bats took a jump because of Panik’s groin strain, Tomlinson has gone on a six-game hitting streak, including picking up multiple hits in four games.
With Panik now back and Tomlinson’s at-bats decreasing again, the added confidence from this little stretch will be very helpful. His bat off the bench will be much-needed as the season wears on.
Next: Giants & The Week That Was
That’s it for the Morning Minute. Next up, the Giants close out their series with Toronto with an early day game before heading to Arizona for a four-game swing.