Giants 1, Pirates 0 in 10 innings
July 29, 2009 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA.

Tim Lincecum’s biggest competition for earning a back-to-back Cy Young Award isn’t on another National League team, but is one of his teammates in pitcher Matt Cain, who leads the bigs in wins (12) and is second in ERA (2.12).

Cain has become the unsung hero in a rotation that features three differnt Cy Young Award winners: Lincecum, Randy Johnson and Barry Zito. Last season, Cain was 8-14 and was a paltry 15-30 from 2007-08. He wasn't expected to be 12-2 at this point in the season or even an All-Star selection, but he's become one of the game's most dominant pitchers.

Wednesday afternoon Cain pitched nine scoreless innings against Pittsburgh, allowing just three hits, walking two and striking out four batters; but failed to get the win because both teams went into extra innings tied scoreless. Thanks to Randy Winn’s walk-off two-out single that drove in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth, reliever Brian Wilson took home the victory after blanking the Bucs in the top of the frame.

"Matt was awesome today," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy after the game. "He went up there and threw another gem. We won the game because of him even though he didn't get the win."

In his last three no decisions, Cain has allowed just one total run, but the team won all three contests by scoring the game-winning run in the inning following Cain’s departure. Lack of run support is nothing new for the six-foot-three 24-year old. Prior to this season, Cain received a paltry three runs from the Giants’ offense to work with, which give little wiggle room. This season, he’s getting an average of about five runs from his teammates (though if he did get five extra runs in his two losses, Cain would be 14-0).

Even with recent lack of run support, Cain has been dominant which is a major reason why San Francisco is in the driver’s seat for the NL wildcard with little more than two months to go in the season.