SAN FRANCISCO_Matt Cain's mini-roll came to a screeching halt Friday night, and so did any momentum the San Francisco Giants gained by winning their first post All-Star break series in nine tries back in Miami two days ago.
Cain and the Giants came to AT&T Park and got whacked around 5-2 by another team in black and orange, the Baltimore Orioles, hardly the way Bruce Bochy had hoped his team might open a favorable schedule run _ 15 of 18 games at home.
Scratch one of those off the list with a frown, along with Cain's three-game personal winning streak. The veteran right-hander, who appeared to have found a real groove_a 2.35 ERA over his previous 15 1/3 innings to go with those three wins_was back to grooving pitches down the middle and having them bashed to all parts of the ballpark.
Cain (4-7) gave up a pair of home runs, including a mammoth 441-foot Mark Trumbo blast to the top rows of the left field bleachers, and also gave up three searing doubles on pitches that were right down the heart of the plate.
Cain lasted just 4-plus innings and gave up 11 hits and five runs in 87 pitches. He struck out seven and walked only one, but his ability to locate on the corners was clearly lacking, the disturbing trend that plagued him in the first half and his first two starts after coming off the disabled list from a hamstring strain.
As for the Giants' offense, the severe hitting anemia continued. San Francisco managed just five hits, and it was the 13th time in 25 games since the break that the Giants scored two runs or fewer. In their one real chance for a breakout inning against Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy_two on and one out in the third_Brandon Belt hit into a double play to end the rally.
The Giants, who managed to stay a game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West despite the loss, were already behind 4-0 by the time they got to the bottom of the third. Baltimore put two on the board in the second inning when Jonathan Schoop and Matt Wieters smoked back-to-back down-the-line doubles off Cain_Schoop to left and Wieters to right_and subsequent singles by J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones brought the second run home.
In the top of the third, Manny Machado hit a bullet single to left and Trumbo followed with a nine-pitch battle that culminated with him mashing a Cain fastball well over the left field wall, one of the longest balls hit at AT&T Park this year. It was Trumbo's 33rd homer of the season, tops in Major League Baseball.
The Giants got one back in the third when Joe Panik led off with a single to right against Bundy and scored in Denard Span's double into the right-center gap. Angel Pagan worked a walk after an eight-pitch battle but Belt promptly hit a grounder to second that resulted in the double play.
Cain's night ended after the first batter in the fifth. Chris Davis hit his 24th homer of the year, an opposite field shot to left. The Giants got three strong scoreless innings from George Kontos and two more from Jake Peavy but the offense couldn't put a dent in the Baltimore lead.
Bundy (6-3) went 5 2/3 innings in getting the victory, walking one and striking three, then giving way. Michael Givens and Donnie Hart held the Giants scoreless until the ninth, when Pagan opened with a single against Brad Brach, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Belt single to center. The Orioles quickly went to standout lefty closer Zach Britton, who has not allowed an earned run in a major league record 40 straight games, who notched three straight outs for his 36th consecutive save this year.
_The Giants will hold the statue dedication for Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Second and King Streets entrance with Perry and family members in attendance. The nine-foot statue was created by sculptor William Behrends, who also is responsible for the statues of Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Orlando Cepeda located outside of AT&T Park.
_The Giants will soon have to make a decision on right-handed reliever Cory Gearrin, who has made five relief appearances on a rehab assignment for Triple-A Sacramento, allowing just one run on two hits in five total innings with eight strikeouts, but Bochy said no decision has been made yet. Gearrin does not have options.
