Matt Cain was struggling before he beat the Cubs on Tuesday.
He threw eight shutout innings and held the NL's top team in check. Cain had 10 strikeouts and received lots of defensive help from third baseman Jose Castillo and outfielders Fred Lewis and Aaron Rowand. Just as the Giants anticipated before the season.
In his previous eight starts, Cain had gone 2-3 with a pedestrian 4.73 ERA. He allowed four runs or more in half of those games.
While Tim Lincecum has earned publicity (cover of Sports Illustrated this week) for showing All-Star stuff and Barry Zito has been abused for pitching so poorly and Jonathan Sanchez has been the most improved starter, Cain has been in the shadows trying to deal with his woes.
He hopes this was his breakout game. His 10 strikeouts put him above 100, giving the Giants three pitchers (including Lincecum and Sanchez) with 100-plus K's before the All-Star break for the first time in San Francisco franchise history.
Cain threw 114 pitches and gave up two hits.
GIANTS 2, CUBS 1: In a first-and-third situation, Fred Lewis stole home in the first inning -- bolting to the plate when the throw went to second -- and Randy Winn drove in an insurance run with a sixth-inning single. It was 2-0 until closer Brian Wilson surrendered a run in the ninth, but he struck out Ryan Theriot with runners on first and second to seal the win.
