Matt Cain Throws First Perfect Game in San Francisco Giants History
It had never been done. Matt Cain didn’t know. Many fans didn’t know it. Sure, there had been no-hitters before, but there’s something a little more special, a little different about a perfect game. In the storied history of the San Francisco Giants (and the New York Giants), no pitcher had thrown a perfect game for them – until last night.
Matt Cain used 125 pitches to hold the Houston Astros without a hit, without a walk, and his defense didn’t commit an error. Cain struck out 14 batters in the game and was purely dominant. He went to a three-ball count just three times in the game, but he trusted his stuff and he trusted his catcher. He also trusted that defense that didn’t commit an error.
In one of the most incredible plays anyone will ever see – mostly because it was made in the midst of a perfect game – Gregor Blanco robbed Jordan Schaffer in the seventh inning. Off the bat, the ball looked destined to be a double. As the ball reached the gap, it looked destined to be a double. But suddenly, a sprawling Blanco was there, and so was his glove. Diving out into the gap after a furious run to track the ball down, Blanco made the catch, and the AT&T Park fans went nuts. It was a catch that shouldn’t have been made. That couldn’t have been made. But it was made.
The Giants offense did more than enough, not that they needed to. They scored ten runs, their highest offensive output at home this season. But all they would have needed was one on this night. ESPN tracks “game scores,” a formula designed to rate a specific player’s performance in a game using numerous metrics rolled into one. Matt Cain’s game score of 101 is the highest this season. He owns the two highest game scores this season including his 96 from his one-hit performance against the Pirates back in April.
The performance was not something that will soon be forgotten. It was the second perfect game this season. Philip Humber threw one for the White Sox earlier this year. 2012 marks just the third time in history there has been more than one perfect game pitched in a single season.
The win moved the Giants to nine games over .500 and just 3.5 back of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their famous pitching staff seems to have returned after struggling last year, and a big part of it is the newly-minted Matt Cain.
Cain signed a six-year, $127.5 million dollar contract with the Giants back in April. The contract looks like a genius move by San Francisco right about now.
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