The San Francisco Giants, led by a strong outing by starter Matt Cain, took the rubber match of their opening series with the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-1.
Cain went seven innings and gave up one run on five hits, striking out five and only walking two. He was backed by a 3-3 performance by Fred Lewis and four RBI from catcher Benjie Molina. Aaron Rowand continued his torid start with a pair of hits. The only down note on the day was rookie reliever Joseph Martinez being struck in the head with a line drive off the bat of Brewer centerfielder Mike Cameron.
In the first game, the Giants survived a shaky start by Tim Lincecum by putting up a ten spot, highlighted by three home runs by Molina, Rowand, and Randy Winn and an energizing, bases clearing triple by rookie Travis Ishikawa. Despite Lincecum, the defending Cy Young winner, only lasting three innings, the Giants prevailed 10-6.
In game two, newcomer Randy Johnson dominated, but fell victim to two untimely homeruns, the second a three run variety off the bat of Brewer counterpart Yovani Gallardo, that gave Milwaukee a lead that they never relinqueshed in beating the Orange and Black, 4-2. Johnson looked great in five innings, only giving up four hits while striking out seven. However, Gallardo looked better, pitching into the seventh inning, allowing only two runs.
Thoughts from the series: The only thing that brings any concern to me is Lincecum getting hit around a little. However, he admitted that he didn’t have great stuff. He should be back to throwing laser guided BB’s on his next go around the rotation. No cause for concern there yet. It was nice to see the offense show up as they did in games one and three. As yet, the kids are doing great. They seem to be answering their critics rather loudly. Very nice. Keep it up. Also, it was nice to see Rowand hitting well. He started like this last season and tailed off. Here’s to him doing this for a complete season.
Overall, this was a great series to kick off 2009 for the Giants. They will next host the San Diego Padres on Friday night, with Barry Zito starting against Shawn Hill. First pitch at 9:05, central.
