(SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Cain has yet to taste victory this season and will try for that elusive first win when the San Francisco Giants begin a four-game series with the Miami Marlins Thursday from AT&T Park.
The Giants are 1-5 in Cain's six starts and the right-hander is 0-3 with a 4.25 earned run average. A cut finger forced Cain to miss two starts and he was reinstated off the disabled list on Saturday, when he allowed two runs in five innings of a 6-2 loss at Los Angeles.
Cain did not record a decision against the Dodgers and the Giants have scored more than four runs just once with him on the hill. Cain will make his 14th career start against the Marlins and is 5-4 with a 3.07 ERA through the first 13 matchups. Cain, though, has lost each of his last three home starts against the Marlins, going 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA in that time.
San Francisco just won two of three meetings with the Atlanta Braves and took the series with Wednesday's 10-4 pounding. Hunter Pence had four hits, including a home run, and three RBI, while Brandon Crawford and Michael Morse also went deep. Crawford had three hits and three RBI, and Gregor Blanco scored three times.
Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval left the game after five innings with an injured left big toe and is day-to-day. He was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored before departing.
"I think he'll be fine," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner allowed four runs and seven hits with five strikeouts over five innings for the win.
"The offense picked me up today big time," Bumgarner said. "They played their butts off and battled through nine innings."
The Giants have won 15 of their last 20 games and improved to 9-4 in series play this season. They are third in the majors with 49 home runs and 21-8 this season when going deep.
San Francisco, which has a 12-6 record at home, is also 9-4 in a stretch of 17 games in 17 days, and the next scheduled day off is Monday, May 19.
Miami is coming off a 13-3 pounding of the Dodgers on Wednesday and scored 12 runs by the fourth inning.
The Marlins posted six runs in both the second and fourth innings, and received home runs from Ed Lucas, Reed Johnson and Jeff Mathis. Lucas and Johnson hit two-run homers and Mathis added a three-run blast for the Marlins, who ended a five-game slide and are 2-5 on an 11-game road trip.
Giancarlo Stanton extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 games, finishing 3-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Anthony DeSclafani picked up the win in his major league debut thanks to the barrage of runs and limited Los Angeles to a pair of runs in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one.
"I told (DeSclafani) before the game to go out and have some fun. He was locked in, he was focused," said Marlins manager Mike Redmond.
Randy Wolf took care of the last three innings for the save. The veteran left- hander was signed by the Marlins prior to Wednesday's series finale in LA.
Nathan Eovaldi draws the start for Miami Thursday and has a 2-1 record with a 2.86 earned run average in eight starts. He is 1-0 over his last six trips to the mound and has posted back-to-back no-decisions, including a 9-3 loss at San Diego on Saturday.
The Padres reached the right-handed Eovaldi for two runs in five innings. Eovaldi has made three career starts against the Giants and is 1-2 with an awful 12.21 ERA in that time.
Miami and San Francisco are meeting for the first time since the Marlins took four of seven matchups a season ago (3-1 on road). The Marlins have come away victorious in 12 of the last 15 visits to AT&T Park.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.