Pitcher Matt Cain silenced the Arizona Diamondbacks' bats, and the San Francisco Giants sent the D-backs one more step closer to elimination from the postseason with a 6-0 Giants win Wednesday night at AT&T Park.
Even though the St. Louis Cardinals lost their game earlier, the Diamondbacks couldn't hold ground. But Arizona will stay alive for at least another day, win or lose on Thursday, since the Cardinals are off.
The Diamondbacks managed only four hits off Cain, who struck out six in seven innings. Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey hit run-scoring singles in the third inning off losing pitcher Wade Miley (16-11), who still hopes to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award and presumably will get one more start before the season ends.
Cain helped his own cause with an RBI single and went 2 for 2 at the plate. Sandoval had two RBI and Brandon Belt had three hits.
A pair of wild pitches, one by reliever Mike Zagurski and another by Takashi Saito, brought in the final Giants run in the eighth inning. Arizona is 78-77 and has seven games left in its season.
The D-backs' final road game of 2012 is Thursday at 12:45 p.m. in San Francisco, with Patrick Corbin of Arizona making his 16th start of the season and facing SF's Barry Zito.
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