San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: No Rain in Miami

1 – Rough Defense

Matt Cain‘s pitching line from Wednesday’s game was not pretty, as he allowed five runs over four innings, but he deserved a fate much better than that. Only two of the runs were earned, and some sloppy defense cost him a lot of pitches in the first inning. The leadoff hitter, Dee Gordon, reached on catcher’s interference, charged as an error to catcher Nick Hundley, and scored on a couple of tough luck hits later.

Later in the inning, Cain looked to be out of the inning with only two runs scored against him. He got Derek Dietrich to hit a ball right at shortstop Brandon Crawford, but the slick-gloved shortstop made an uncharacteristic mistake. The line drive clanked off his glove, keeping the inning alive. The next batter, Telis, hit a two-run double down the left field line.

2 – Crawford Still Struggling

Brandon Crawford just can not put it together at the plate this season. In 10 at-bats against the Marlins, Crawford picked up only one hit while striking out three times. On the season, his slash-line stands at .225/.274/.356, all figures that stand to be the lowest, or second-lowest totals of his career.

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Even with the terrible error on Wednesday, Crawford is still playing great defense, which is a huge boost for the team. But for a guy like Crawford, who was projected to be such a big part of the lineup, to have struggled the way he has all season is a huge downfall for the offense.

3 – Streak Breaker

Stanton was on a tremendous tear when the Giants came to town, and kept it going against San Francisco pitchers. He hit home runs in each of the first two games, running his streak to six consecutive games with a longball, two games shy of tying the major league record. He couldn’t keep the streak going on Wednesday, with Cain and company limiting him to two singles in five plate appearances.

Next: 3 Up, 3 Down: Weird Weekend in Washington

This is a positive for Giants’ pitching, but it would have been pretty cool to see Stanton possibly tie, or even break, that record. He can start a new streak on Friday against the New York Mets, though.