(My Sportsbook) - Matt Cain will try to stay perfect on the season when he leads the streaking
San Francisco Giants this afternoon in the finale of a three-game series against the
Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Cain is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in three starts this season and is coming off a win over San Diego on April 21. In an 8-3 triumph against the Padres, Cain held the opposition to a pair of runs on nine hits in six innings.
The bulky right-hander has faced Arizona 10 times in his career and sports a 3-3 record with a 3.39 earned run average over that stretch.
San Francisco has won a season-high five straight games and is coming off Saturday's 5-3 victory over Arizona in the second test of the series. Randy Winn clubbed the go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning and Edgar Renteria finished with two RBI for the Giants, who have won their last three series.
Randy Johnson did not factor in the decision and had a rough outing, allowing two runs on three hits and seven walks in 3 1/3 innings. Johnson is still four wins shy of becoming the 24th member of the 300-win club. Justin Miller earned the win in relief of the Big Unit and Brian Wilson notched his third save.
Eric Byrnes and Justin Upton each homered for the Diamondbacks, who have lost two straight and three of four games. Max Scherzer was saddled with the loss after yielding four runs on five hits and two walks, with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Scherzer also notched his first career hit, a double off Johnson.
Arizona is 2-3 on a nine-game homestand.
The D'Backs will hand the ball to Jon Garland on Sunday and he is 2-1 with a 5.71 ERA through three starts this season. Garland last toed the rubber in a 6-3 victory over Colorado on April 20, as he surrendered two runs -- one earned -- on six hits in 6 2/3 innings of work.
The right-hander, who was rocked for seven runs in a loss to St. Louis the start before, squared off against San Francisco once before in his career as a member of the Chicago White Sox. In a 5-3 Chicago victory on June 10, 2003 Garland allowed only two runs in seven innings with seven K's and one walk.
The Diamondbacks won six of the nine games played at Chase Field last year against the Giants.
