Matt Cain did not have a good day
Giants ace Matt Cain absolutely did not pitch like an ace against the Mets on Wednesday.
By
Dayn Perry
•
1 min read
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At this writing, Wednesday's Mets-Giants game is ongoing, but Matt Cain's day has been over for a while. Here's his work for the day:
Yucky! Cain lasted just 36 pitches and for the first time in his career failed to make it out of the first inning.
As Nate Stuhlbarg noted on Twitter, Cain has notched more earned runs than outs in each of his last two starts. Keep in mind that Cain is coming off not only a 2012 season in which he placed sixth in the NL Cy Young balloting, but also six straight seasons of at least 200 innings pitched to go with a sub-4.00 ERA. To say the least, Matt Cain isn't looking much like Matt Cain these days.
Still, there is cause for some hope. Cain's K% is actually at career-best levels at the moment, and his BB% is actually better than career norms. There's also nothing off about his ground-ball/fly-ball ratio. What Cain is doing is giving up an elevated rate of home runs as percentage of fly balls. Fortunately for the 28-year-old right-hander, that's a stat that tends to stabilize given time. As well, he's stranded an unusually low percentage of runners, and that's something else that tends to settle in around a league mean.
Also, take note of Cain's velocity chart, courtesy of Brooks Baseball:
Nothing particularly worrisome here, particularly in light of recent history.
It's possible, of course, that there's something physically wrong with Cain. If he's healthy, though, don't be surprised if better days are ahead for the struggling ace. The underlying indicators, which remain strong and in character, say there should be.
