Matt Cain’s Best Start Ever

Let’s see here…

• The fifth shutout of Matt Cain‘s career.
• The third one-hitter. And the first one-hitter in which the lone hit was a single.
• 11 strikeouts, which is tied for the second-most he’s ever had in a start.
• Zero walks.
• 17 consecutive outs recorded to begin the start.
• 28 total batters faced.
• 19 swing-throughs — the most he’s had in a start in years.
• A game score of 96: career-high.

This was Cain at his absolute best: the location, the movement, the pitch selection…all at the top of his game. And he was just cruising; only once did Cain need 15+ pitches to get out of an inning (that came in the sixth, in which James McDonald broke up the perfect game). It was really something special. As far as near-perfect games go, this was incredibly close. Had Brandon Crawford been positioned ever-so-slightly to the left, that McDonald single would have been just a groundout.