Cain Goes Down As Giants Fall To Pirates 10-5
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- The San Francisco Giants might have lost Andres Torres for the season to an injured left Achilles' tendon. They hope Matt Cain won't be following the outfielder to the disabled list.
The right-hander departed in the fourth inning of San Francisco's 10-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night after getting hit on his pitching arm by a line drive from Gaby Sanchez. X-rays on Cain's bruised forearm were negative.
Manager Bruce Bochy expected to know more about Cain's condition Friday.
"That ball was smoked. It caught him flush. He has a pretty good contusion. He's really sore. We'll know more tomorrow. We're not going to take any chances."
Cain was hit when Sanchez led off the fourth with a groundout. Trainer Dave Groeschner and manager Bruce Bochy hustled out to check on the pitcher, who walked off the mound on his own moments later.
"I have to figure out what my body will let me do and go from there," Cain said of the next step. "I got a little bit ahead of myself and made bad pitches. They didn't miss them."
Cain allowed three runs and seven hits in 3 1-3 innings. Guillermo Moscoso (1-2) relieved with the Giants trailing 3-1. He allowed three runs, bringing his total to eight in seven outings for San Francisco.
Cain, who had been on a nice roll since the All-Star break, threw 64 pitches, 40 for strikes.
"It caught me pretty good. It didn't feel right, right off the bat," he said. "Like the time in 2009, I had the feeling it wasn't very good."
Garrett Jones and Jordy Mercer homered, Jose Tabata hit a three-run double, and the NL Central-leading Pirates took their turn beating up on the Giants after Boston did the same this week.
Pedro Alvarez hit a go-ahead, two-run double to start a seven-run fifth and matched his career high for RBIs in a season with 85. Russell Martin and Sanchez added sacrifice flies and Tabata doubled in his second plate appearance of the inning.
Marco Scutaro had a tying two-run single in the fourth for San Francisco after scoring in the third on Buster Posey's sacrifice fly.
Jones' 12th homer leading off the second was a splash-hit drive into McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall. It was the 28th at AT&T Park by an opponent and second by a Pirates player. Adam LaRoche hit one on Aug. 11, 2007, against Tim Lincecum.
Tabata added a pair of singles for his third three-hit game in August.
Jeanmar Gomez (3-0) pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the win following Jeff Locke, who allowed three runs, five hits and four walks in four innings.
On a day the Giants sent Torres to the 15-day disabled list, the defending World Series champions were dealt another blow with the early exit for Cain. San Francisco was outscored 21-4 in a losing three-game series against the Red Sox - including 12-1 in Wednesday's finale.
It wasn't much better in the opener of a four-game series with the Pirates. Brandon Crawford added a two-run double in the eighth for San Francisco.
"The guys did a great job of coming back. That's what is so disappointing, to have an ugly inning like that after tying the game," Bochy said. "When your long guy is having a tough time throwing strikes that's a recipe for disaster."
Third baseman Pablo Sandoval returned to the Giants' lineup after missing two games with a sore back. He grounded into a double play in the second and wound up 1 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Torres said the injury has lingered since the start of 2011 after he helped the Giants win a World Series championship the previous fall. He is scheduled to get a second opinion and be examined by specialist Dr. Robert Anderson next week in North Carolina and hopes to avoid surgery - though an MRI exam showed bone spurs in the area.
"I need to be 100 percent," Torres said. "After we won the World Series and they gave us the rings (April 9, 2011), I hurt this foot and I've never been the same. Playing like this is not going to be good for me and it's not going to be good for the organization. I respect them a lot. This is something I have to work to get better."
NOTES: Bochy said struggling LHP Barry Zito (4-9, 5.63 ERA) is scheduled to make his next start. "We're keeping the guys in the rotation where they're at," Bochy said. ... The Giants are 9-22 vs. the NL Central. ... In other roster moves, LHP Mike Kickham was optioned to Triple-A Fresno, and INF Nick Noonan and OF Francisco Peguero were recalled from Fresno to provide some depth.
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