Cain earns victory with strong arm, key hit

Cain fans Pollock 0:18

Matt Cain forces A.J. Pollock to strike out swinging for the third out in the top of the 2nd inning

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants right-hander Matt Cain played a starring role in Wednesday's 6-2 win over the D-backs, tossing five-plus strong innings and sparking a three-run rally with his bat.

Cain struggled with his command early, giving up a first-inning run on A.J. Pollock's leadoff triple and David Peralta's sacrifice fly, but he settled down after that, giving up five hits and walking three while striking out six. He also set the tone for San Francisco's big bottom of the fifth inning, when he hit a stand-up double and came around to score the Giants' first run of the night. It marked Cain's first win since Aug. 6, and the fans let him hear it with a standing ovation as he walked off the mound.

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"There's nothing better than to be able to have that," Cain said. "For the fans, that's greatly appreciated."

Span's RBI single in the 5th

ARI@SF: Span knocks in Cain to even the game at 1

Denard Span lines a ball up the middle that allows Matt Cain to score from second base, tying the game at 1 in the bottom of the 5th inning

Cain, once San Francisco's ace, is doing his part to hold on to the No. 5 spot in the rotation after being bumped to the bullpen to wrap up 2016. Following Wednesday's contest, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Cain will make his next scheduled start Tuesday in Kansas City.

"Really, really nice moment there," Bochy said. "I know Matty's been through a lot. He's really been battling to get on track."

Later in the fifth, the Giants took the lead with an RBI single from Hunter Pence and padded it with another from Conor Gillaspie off Arizona starter Shelby Miller. San Francisco tacked on three more runs in the seventh before the D-backs scored a run in the eighth.

Pence's RBI knock

ARI@SF: Pence drives in Span for the 2-1 lead

Hunter Pence hits a sharp line drive to right field which allows Denard Span to score from second, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead in the 5th

With the victory, the Giants (4-6) avoided losing their first three series of a season for the first time since 2007 while denying Arizona (7-3) its second 8-2 start in franchise history.

"We had some runners in scoring position. I know there were a couple of moments where we had a little pressure put on them," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "Sometimes you have to give the opposition some credit. They made pitches when they had to and got some big outs at the right time."

• Miller delivers strong effort vs. Giants

Miller shuts down scoring chance

ARI@SF: Miller K's Cain to get out of the 2nd inning

Shelby Miller forces Matt Cain to strike out swinging to end the bottom of the 2nd inning with two runners on

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Striking out the side: After Cain gave up a leadoff single and subsequent walk in the sixth, Bochy called on Cory Gearrin to come in and stem the tide. The right-hander answered the call in spectacular fashion, getting three straight strikeouts to strand two runners and get his team back in the dugout.

"Going into the situation," Gearrin said, "you just want to get out of it without any damage. That's what we did tonight. Bullpen pitched great."

• Gearrin bails out Cain with stellar relief

Gearrin escapes scoring danger

ARI@SF: Gearrin K's Mathis, leaves two stranded

Cory Gearrin fans Jeff Mathis to strike out the side, leaving two runners stranded after coming in for relief in the top of the 6th inning

Put 'em away: The Giants broke the game open with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by a two-run triple from Jarrett Parker. Two batters after Nick Hundley stretched the lead to 4-1 with a booming RBI double off the right-field wall, Parker laced a triple off the wall in center to drive home Hundley and Joe Panik.

"Good for Park," Bochy said. "I think he's been pressing a little bit. He had a nice night. Had a couple of hits beating the shift and he hit that one against the wind. That ball was crushed."

Parker's two-run triple

ARI@SF: Parker knocks in two with stand-up triple

Jarrett Parker smokes a ball off the center-field wall that drives in two runs, putting the Giants up 6-1 in the bottom of the 7th inning

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Arizona third baseman Jake Lamb went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored to extend his hitting streak to nine games, which is tied with Washington's Daniel Murphy for the best current streak in MLB.

Drury's RBI single

ARI@SF: Drury knocks in Lamb with RBI single

Brandon Drury hits a single to right field that allows Jake Lamb to score from second, cutting the Giants' lead to 6-2

WHAT'S NEXT
D-backs: The D-backs will take Thursday off before opening a four-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Zack Greinke will start Friday night's 7:10 p.m. MST game against former teammate and good friend Clayton Kershaw.

Giants: The Giants are set to face the Rockies for the first time this season when they open the series Thursday night (7:15 p.m. PT) at AT&T Park. Ace Madison Bumgarner will take the hill following Saturday's impressive performance, when he hurled MLB's first complete game of 2017 but took the decision in a 2-1 loss to San Diego.

Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.

Alex Espinoza is a contributor to MLB.com and covered the Giants on Wednesday.

Steve Gilbert has covered the D-backs for MLB.com since 2001. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGilbertMLB.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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