The obituaries media members and Giants fans penned about Matt Cain’s career have been tucked away in a back drawer. No starting pitcher on San Francisco’s roster has been better in April than big ole burly No. 18.
The ship is theoretically sinking for a 7-13 baseball club but Cain is one of few Giants consistently dumping water out of the boat with a bucket. This is a story nobody thought was in the deck of cards when the season started three weeks ago. This is a story that’s helping save the season.
On Monday, the 32-year-old shutdown the Dodgers in six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 2.42 on the season. The Giants are now 3-1 in games he’s pitched; opposing lineups have yet to figure him out. Cain’s allowed just two earned runs since his 2017 debut in San Diego. He’s consistently going at least five innings. He’s learning how to pitch without his best stuff. It was the first time he’d beaten Los Angeles in nearly four years, May of 2013. The win came at a critical time, with Clayton Kershaw looming on Tuesday.
“I mean, we needed it,” Posey said. “I don’t think you can underscore it. We definitely needed it.”
The night was supposed to be about Christian Arroyo’s debut and Sergio Romo’s return to San Francisco. In retrospect, it’s now about Cain.
For as nutty as the 2017 season has been — Madison Bumgarner’s accident, Bruce Bochy’s heart surgery, Buster Posey’s concussion — Cain has been an astonishing component. He’s one of the few Giants playing baseball with a sense of urgency and whether that’s because his career is on the line doesn’t matter. He’s delivering. Baseball is completely unpredictable, but Giants fans are relishing this start from Cain.
“When you look at that strike zone box, he doesn’t throw anything in the middle of that box,” Duane Kuiper told Murph and Mac Tuesday morning. “His control has been fabulous. He’s really fun to watch. He’s got the John Wayne swagger going on when he walks off the mound.”
Now, we’re waiting for his counterparts to join him in the success laboratory.
In starts from Bumgarner, Matt Moore and Jeff Samardzija, the Giants are 1-11 this season. Some of that can be attributed to a slumping lineup or the bullpen, but Moore and Samardzija are off to shaky starts. Moore’s allowed 11 earned runs in his last two starts; Samardzija’s ERA has skyrocketed to 7.40. Cueto has a 3-1 record but he’s been rocked around a bit after missing a chunk of spring training.
Had Cain not risen to the occasion in April of 2017, the Giants might actually be toast right now. They’ve gotten almost zero production from their outfield. Posey and now Brandon Crawford have missed time. A lineup lacking power is 29th in baseball with 13 home runs. This team has flaws they might not be able to overcome.
How long can this last? Won’t Cain come closer to the median and the other starters raise their game? Isn’t that how baseball works? More pertinently, he left the game Wednesday with a tight hamstring, but downplayed the injury to reporters in the clubhouse afterwards.
Ty Blach has taken Bumgarner’s spot in the rotation while he recovers from a left shoulder injury — Bum did a great job of owning the incident with reporters Monday. Many had predicted Cain would only last the month of April before being relegated to a long relief role as a pity job. Many predicted this would be his last season in the big leagues. All of a sudden, the pressure is off of him.
What exactly has spawned this revival?
Because the downward spiral was there on paper. Back-to-back ERA’s of 5.79 and 5.64 showed a pitcher routinely serving up meat balls over home plate to the opposing team. Cain was becoming a symbol of the San Francisco front office holding onto a player far too long, instead of parting with him before his decline — a personnel strategy Bill Belichick has used to sustain his dynasty in New England.
A month into one of the zaniest Giants seasons in recent memory, Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans get a tip of the cap for sticking with Cain from me. He, more than any player in that clubhouse, has been a stabilizing force. Instead of being dominant like he used to be, Cain is becoming a gamer. He’s picking spots more than using his stuff. It’s thrilling to see.
The rebirth of Matt Cain has quietly been the best story so far on the 2017 San Francisco Giants. The longer it lasts, the better chance this team has to right the ship.