CSN: Anatomy of a perfect game

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SAN FRANCISCO ? How difficult, how elusive, how magically fated is a perfect game?

Consider this: Matt Cain struck out 14 batters on an unforgettable Wednesday night in China Basin. It matched Sandy Koufax?s iconic performance in 1965 as the most strikeouts in a perfect game in history.

And yet Cain needed so much support, so many breaks, so much luck -- and maybe even some angel?s breath.

Here is how it happened, inning by inning:

First inning: 11 pitches.
Cain likes to establish his fastball early and it was clear he had plenty of late movement and cut -- and pinpoint control -- as he threw four of them to strike out Jordan Schafer. He went fastball-curve-fastball to strike out Jose Altuve. Jed Lowrie hit a foul pop.

Second inning: 12 pitches.
Before it became edge-of-the-seat stuff., Cain faced his first three-ball count of the evening. Brett Wallace, a play in the ?Moneyball? mold, fouled off a 3-1 fastball. Cain hadn?t thrown either of his first two changeups in the strike zone, but Buster Posey called for one. Wallace swung through it.

Third inning: 17 pitches.
Cain began to find a groove with his changeup and slider. Snyder and pitcher J.A. Happ took called third strikes on fastballs that snapped back across the zone. Umpire Ted Barrett was giving him the black, as pitchers call it. Cain had gone through the lineup once. Even at this early juncture, he could sense he had it within himself to no-hit the Astros.

Fourth inning: 22 pitches
Schafer worked Cain for a 10-pitch at-bat that included five two-strike fouls ? including one that came within ?a millimeter,? as first baseman Brandon Belt saw it, of being a double down the line. Replays were inconclusive; Belt said it definitely hit in front of the bag and was hooking sharply. Umpire Mike Muchlinski called it foul and Cain, now operating with a four-run lead after two-run homers by Melky Cabrera and Belt, stayed aggressive. He only threw one ball among the 10 pitches to Schafer, who finally swung through a fastball. Little Jose Altuve, all 5-foot-5 of him, didn?t get any breaks on the zone. Barrett rang him up on a third strike above the letters.

Fifth inning: 14 pitches
Two more strikeouts. One ball in play, to second baseman Ryan Theriot. Moving along?

Sixth inning: 10 pitches
With 76 pitches through five innings, Cain needed an economy frame. He got it here. Bruian Bogusevic took a fastball for a third strike, then Snyder flied out to left field on the first pitch. And what a fly out it was. The ball was crushed to left field but appeared to hang in the cool night air, and left fielder Melky Cabrera jumped at the wall as he made the catch. Said center fielder Angel Pagan: ?I had the best view. The ball wasn?t going out. It was out. Then it cut back. That ball was 10 rows deep. I've never seen that before, a ball come back like that. Once I saw that play?? Cain received another contribution from catcher Posey, who blocked a curveball that struck out pinch hitter Brian Bixler. Posey threw to first base for the out. Remember, it isn?t perfect unless it?s a no-reach game.

Seventh inning: 17 pitches
For the first time since the second inning, and just the second time in the game, Cain went to a three-ball count. He missed with a curve and fastball before coming back with another that broke right to Schafer?s barrel. Gregor Blanco, who had shifted toward the gap on Schafer, raced back to the track in right-center ? nearly 410 feet from home plate ? and left his feet while making a catch at the track that nobody could believe. As Cain later asked him, ?What were you even doing there?? Now, much like Aaron Rowand?s catch in Jonathan Sanchez?s no-hitter in 2010, history appeared to be the work of fate. But those final seven outs wouldn?t come easily. Cain missed on a slider to run the count full against Lowrie, then came back with his hardest fastball of the night ? on his 101^st pitch -- at 94 mph. Lowrie fouled it off. Posey had the guts to call for a changeup and Cain didn?t hesitate, throwing one that was written in disappearing ink as it fluttered past Lowrie?s swing.

Eighth inning: 11 pitches
In the seventh, Giants manager Bruce Bochy took Pablo Sandoval out, inserted Brandon Crawford at shortstop and moved Joaquin Arias to third base. An inning before that, he substituted Emmanuel Burriss at second base for Theriot. The earlier move was designed to give Theriot a rest and get Burriss some playing time in a blowout game. But the changes in the seventh had perfection in mind. They paid off in the eighth, as Martinez hit a slow roller that Arias charged and threw accurately on the run. Next came another three-ball count. It was Wallace again, who didn?t bite on two 1-2 sliders. Cain came back with his simplest, best pitch ? a challenge fastball ? and Wallace shook his head after Barrett hit the cash register. With Cain just four outs away, Chris Johnson hit a tricky, topspin hopper to short. It was the kind of ball that had eaten up Crawford so many times in April and early May, and he was cold off the bench. But he backed up to make sure he wasn?t caught in between hops, then made a clean pickup, transfer and throw.

Ninth inning: 11 pitches
This was it. It was real, all of it. Bochy didn?t dare put a reliever on the bullpen mound, but he had Shane Loux secretly warming up in the batting cage, ready to enter the moment Cain gave up a hit. That did not happen. Bogusevic lifted a 2-2 fastball to left field. Cabrera raced over to catch it near the line. Snyder lifted a 1-0 fastball. Cabrera barely had to move to catch it. Pinch hitter Jason Castro was last. Cain worked the count in his favor, 1-2. Then he threw one final fastball on his 125^th pitch ? again, at 94 mph, matching his hardest of the night. Castro almost slapped it out of Posey?s glove. Arias was there to field it, and he appeared to nearly lose his balance. Finally, he set his feet just enough, and with his body still falling away from first base, he fired the throw of his life that hit Belt?s glove on a line. It was instant euphoria. It was history. It was the 22^nd perfect game in baseball history, and the first by a Giant in the franchise?s 129-year existence.

Cain?s first reaction, to Bochy, was ?This is stupid.?

Sweetly, blessedly, unforgettably stupid.

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