Wednesday night in San Francisco, Matt Cain has pitched eight perfect innings against the Houston Astros.
Matt Cain Perfect Through 8 Innings
In the top of the eighth, J.D. Martinez led off with a ground ball to third base, where Joaquin Arias handled it. Next, Cain struck out Brett Wallace for his 14th strikeout; he'd already set a career best in the seventh inning, with his 13th K. And Cain made it 24 up and 24 down by retiring Chris Johnson on a grounder to shortstop Brandon Crawford.
Cain's thrown 114 pitches through eight innings, and it's now apparent that he'll be given a shot at finishing what would be the first no-hitter (and perfect game) of his career. Oh, and the Giants took a 10-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Before the eighth inning, there were two exceptionally close calls.
In the fourth, Jordan Schafer hit a screaming grounder down the first-base line, but according to the umpire -- and granted, he had the best look at it -- the ball went foul just before crossing the bag.
And in the seventh, Schafer got robbed again. This time he drove a pitch to deep right-center field, where Gregor Blanco somehow snared the ball with a headlong dive that left him prone on the warning track.
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