Matt Cain Throws Perfect Game

Matt Cain exemplified perfection Wednesday night at AT&T Park, as the man who's come so close to no-hitters in the past, finally went the distance, throwing the first perfect game in Giants' history.

Matt Cain In Midst of Perfection

Cain struck out a career-high 14 batters in route to his perfect outing, as Houston hitters looked lost at the plate all night long. I've been to a few games when Cain has taken no-hitters into the 8th and 9th innings before, but I've never seen him in the form he was in Wednesday night at AT&T Park. The 27 year-old right-hander is the one that got the big contract in the winter, not Tim Lincecum, and the early dividends have paid off huge for San Francisco. With Cain's perfect outing, he moved his record to a dominant 8-2, coupled with a 2.19 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. It was his 7th straight victory, and he's allowed 1 or less runs in 5 of those 7 outings. This game also has to put him on the map as the potential starter for the NL in the All-Star game in July. With the way he's been going since back-to-back 4-run outings a month ago, there really hasn't been a better starting pitcher in the league. I know R.A. Dickey is having an incredible season for the New York Mets and even Aroldis Chapman has been mentioned as a possible starter for the NL, but Matt Cain is on fire right now, and has really become may be the NL's most dominant starting pitcher at the moment.

I'll tell you one person who will definitely be happy with Cain's performance, and that's Lincecum. He better be thanking Matty for helping take some of the spotlight off him. It was a game that will forever go down in the history books, not only in San Francisco Giants history, but Major League baseball history as well. It wasn't just Matt Cain that did his job to perfection Wednesday, as the Giants offense rattled off 10 runs vs. J.A. Happ and the Houston bullpen. Gregor Blanco, Melky Cabrera and Brandon Belt (for a 2nd consecutive game) all went yard, and 7 of the 8 starters had multi-hit games. Pablo Sandoval reacted to being moved down to the 6th spot with some anger, going 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI, by far his best game since being activated over the weekend. It was a rare night when everything lined up perfectly, the offense, the defense and of course, the pitching. This is the type of victory that can really spark a season!