Perfecto earns NL Player of the Week for Cain
Perfecto earns NL Player of the Week for Cain
Cain, who threw the 22nd perfect game in Major League history on Wednesday against the Astros, earned the weekly award for the first time in his career.
The right-hander struck out 14 batters in the 10-0 win against the visiting Astros, becoming the first pitcher in the 130-year history of the Giants franchise to record a perfect game.
The 14 strikeouts were a career high and tied Sandy Koufax's record for most strikeouts recorded in a perfect game (Sept. 9, 1965). It was also the highest strikeout total in a no-hitter since Nolan Ryan struck out 16 on May 1, 1991, against Toronto.
Cain, who also singled and scored on a Gregor Blanco home run in the fifth inning of the game, became the first pitcher ever to score a run in a perfect game.
The two-time All-Star has won a career-best seven consecutive decisions, and owns an 8-2 mark on the season with a 2.18 ERA.
Cain joins Philip Humber as the only other pitcher to toss a perfect game this season, and it marks just the third time in Major League history that two perfect games have been recorded in the same season (1880 -- Monte Ward and Lee Richmond; 2010 -- Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden).