Arizona Diamondbacks starter Trevor Cahill must have felt right at home pitching in the Bay Area, having been property of the Oakland Athletics in the recent past. He looked very comfortable in no-hitting the San Francisco Giants for six innings as the D-backs topped the San Francisco Giants 6-2 Wednesday night at AT&T Park.
With Cahill handling things on the mound, youngster Adam Eaton was the catalyst in the field and at the plate. Eaton preserved Cahill's no-hitter for the moment when he made a diving catch in center field in the sixth inning, and his hustle on the bases was a huge boost for the Diamondbacks.
In the top of the seventh, Eaton reached on an infield single. He zipped around the bases to score on an Aaron Hill double in a four-run inning that gave the D-backs a commanding 6-0 lead.
Eaton also singled and scored in the first inning, and Chris Johnson tripled and scored on a base hit from John McDonald in the fourth to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead.
Johnson provided the crushing blow to the Giants' hopes of a comeback, bouncing a two-run double down the right field line in the seventh.
Cahill (10-11) had a perfect game until the sixth, when he walked Brandon Crawford. His no-hitter ended with no out in the bottom of the seventh, when Marco Scutaro lined a single to lead off. Cahill allowed only two runs on two hits.
The Giants would load the bases in the seventh and rally for two runs, both on a single by Brandon Belt. But reliever Mike Zagurski came back to induce an inning-ending double play from pinch hitter Ryan Theriot.
There were some fireworks in the top of the eighth inning. McDonald went in hard to third base on a fielder's choice ground ball to first base, and the throw to Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval was in time for Sandoval to tag McDonald. Sandoval took exception to the aggressiveness of McDonald and went after him. That cleared the benches of both teams, but the situation was diffused.
The Diamondbacks (68-70) ended up taking two of three and scoring 22 runs in the series against the NL West-leading Giants, but are still 9 1/2 games out of first place and 6 1/2 out of a wild-card spot. Arizona goes south for a three-game series against the San Diego Padres that starts Friday at Petco Park.