Matt Cain, Giants end their stay in Arizona on positive note
Matt Cain, Giants end their stay in Arizona on positive note
The Giants broke camp with a 10-7 victory over the Cubs on Tuesday, a positive ending to a spring training that only seems as if it began during the Reagan administration.
On Tuesday, in a 99-pitch start against the World Series champs, Matt Cain provided the coaches and front office an argument to pick him over Ty Blach.
Cain also held the five Chicago regulars he faced — Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Miguel Montero — to 0-for-10 with a walk and four strikeouts before Heyward doubled and Baez singled in the sixth, as Cain was approaching 100 pitches.
The fifth-starter issue consumed most of the spring discussion about the rotation, a good thing for the Giants, because it meant few issues with the other four starters.
The Giants won their three recent championships on the strength of their starters, but one could fairly argue that the 2017 rotation might be their best.
Matt Moore missed by 12/3 innings (with the Rays and Giants combined) and remains haunted by his second-inning knockout at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 21.
Had Moore logged two more innings, the Giants would have been the first club since the 2012 Reds with four 200-inning pitchers.
The White Sox, Red Sox and Nationals had two apiece.
“Our starting staff is really good and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Bumgarner said after pitching seven innings in his final tuneup Monday.
Moore will have a few starts in which he loses the strike zone.