Matt Cain has proven once again why The San Francisco Giants spent all of that money on him. Last night, and against the Houston Astros, the ace pitcher threw the SF Giants first perfect game in its storied history. Here’s Cain being mobbed by his teammates (photo courtesy of CBS Sports):
Now, Matt Cain is compared with the work of Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers Pitcher Sandy Koufax and because Matt tied Sandy for the most batters struck out in game: 14. Overall, Houston Astros batters came up 27 times and Cain sat them down 27 times: a perfect game, and only the 20th in Major League Baseball history. Here’s a Tout from last night:
In the aftermath of Cain’s performance, it’s now called the most dominant one since Koufax on September 9, 1965.
Here’s Matt Cain as recorded by Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News, who had to be salivating over the chance to talk to Cain after such a historic night:
“This is incredible right now. It’s starting to settle in right now a little bit. Being able to celebrate with the guys in the clubhouse and enjoy it was something I’ll never, ever forget. It was unbelievable from the beginning. The guys did a great job of making it relaxing because they were able to get on the board early and keep scoring runs. There’s nothing better than that.”
Q: When did perfection enter your mind?
Cain: “I knew I hadn’t given up a hit. I’m always kind of conscious of it and the first time through the lineup I felt like I had good stuff and was locating. Me and Buster were on the same page the whole night. I felt like something could happen.”
Q: Did previous experiences help you?
Cain: “Kind of, but not really. I’ve had some opportunities in the past but there’s really nothing like it. You get deep into the game and (Blanco) made the defining play. He makes that play in the beginning of the seventh inning and I’ve still got to get two more outs and the place is going crazy. I was literally having to recheck myself to be able to see the signs that Buster was putting down. There was so much adrenaline, so much going on. In a way I was probably overthrowing some change-ups. I could look up there and see I was throwing them harder than I wanted to. But it worked out.”
Stay tuned.