SAN FRANCISCO -- The Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants plan to welcome back veteran starting pitchers when they duel in a three-game series that begins Monday night at AT&T Park.
Giants right-hander Matt Cain is expected to throw the first pitch of the series after being reinstated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day.
Cain (1-5, 5.20 ERA) strained his right hamstring in his most recent start, May 27 at Colorado, prompting the DL stint. He missed two starts, both of which the Giants lost.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced that Albert Suarez, who pitched well in Cain's place, would be moved to long relief upon the veteran's return.
"It gives us another quality arm down there," Bochy said of moving Suarez (1-1, 3.09) to the bullpen. "Matty's ready, so let's go."
It is just a coincidence, but Cain's return comes on a special night -- the fourth anniversary of his perfect game against the Houston Astros.
That said, history definitely won't be on Cain's side Monday night. He has virtual thrown batting practice to the Brewers in recent meetings, going 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA in his last three starts against them.
Cain will take a 3-8 lifetime record against the Brewers to the mound with him.
Cain will face a Brewers team that will take the field on a bit of a roll. They swept a pair from the New York Mets over the weekend to earn a split of their four-game series, giving them four wins in six games last week.
Milwaukee's Monday starter, right-hander Chase Anderson, pitched one of those wins, a 4-0 interleague victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. He allowed two hits and no walks in 6 2/3 scoreless innings, his third consecutive game surrendering no more than one run.
Anderson (4-6, 4.21) doesn't have much of a lifetime record against the Giants, going just 1-2 with an 8.53 ERA in three starts. However, that lone win was a doozy, coming in his lone start at AT&T Park, when he shut out the Giants on one hit over seven innings last June for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Anderson hopes to provide some momentum for Matt Garza, the Brewers right-hander who not only faces the tough task of making his first start of the season Tuesday, but also will go up against San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner.
Coming off a 6-14 season with a 5.63 ERA as a first-year Brewer, Garza sustained a strained right lat in spring training. He is finally ready for his season debut at the major league level after going 0-2 with a 4.76 ERA in three rehab starts for low Class A Wisconsin the past two weeks.
In order to create a spot in the rotation for Garza, Brewers manager Craig Counsell had to give bad news to Wily Peralta, who is 4-7 with a 6.08 ERA through 13 starts. The fifth-year veteran was sent to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
"It's a tough decision," Counsell said Sunday. "We were just at a point where we have six starters and we need to get better performance out of that spot."
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