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Giants hope Cain is able to secure sweep of Dodgers

May 5, 2013 - 1:57 PM (Sports Network) - San Francisco Giants ace Matt Cain looks to secure his first victory of the season and a three-game sweep of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in Sunday night's finale of a three-game series.

A 16-game winner last season, Cain makes his seventh start of 2013 still searching for his first victory.

He is 0-2 with a 6.79 earned run average and has been tagged for nine homers over his last four starts. Cain gave up four runs on five hits and four walks over six innings of a no-decision versus the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday as three of those hits allowed were fourth-inning home runs.

The 28-year-old righty has a solid 3.27 ERA lifetime versus the Dodgers in 24 meetings, but is just 4-8. He pitched well enough to beat them on April 1 as he scattered four hits over six scoreless innings. He also struck out eight before getting left with a no-decision as Los Angeles rallied late for a 4-0 win.

Looking to play the role of stopper for the Dodgers is Hyun-Jin Ryu, who will try to continue racking up strikeouts as the rookie makes his seventh career major league start.

The 26-year-old has not lost since his first start of the season on April 2, when he gave up three runs -- one earned -- on 10 hits with five strikeouts in a 3-0 setback to the Giants.

Ryu has gone 3-0 since and is coming off a 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies in which he fanned 12 batters over six innings while yielding two runs. It was the most strikeouts for a Dodgers rookie since Hideo Nomo whiffed 13 against the New York Mets in 1995 and Ryu has 46 strikeouts to 10 walks over 37 2/3 innings this year.

The lefty is 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA on the campaign.

The Dodgers have lost three straight, including back-to-back games against the Giants by just one run each time. Guillermo Quiroz played the hero for San Francisco on Saturday, belting a splitter from Los Angeles reliever Brandon League for a pinch-hit homer in the 10th inning that gave his club a 10-9 win.

The Giants needed extra innings to beat the Dodgers despite grabbing a 5-0 lead in the second inning. The offenses kept going back and forth and Los Angeles took a lead thanks to a seven-run fifth inning before the teams continued to exchange runs.

Andres Torres hit a solo home run, Gregor Blanco drove in three runs and Pablo Sandoval had three hits with an RBI and three runs scored as the Giants won their fifth straight. They remained tied with the Rockies for first place in the NL West.

Ryan Vogelsong lasted just 4 2/3 innings as he gave up seven runs on nine hits, while Santiago Casilla got the win for pitching two scoreless innings.

"We definitely battle to the very end every night and that's a great quality to have in a team," Vogelsong said.

A.J. Ellis hit a solo home run, while Dee Gordon and Matt Kemp each drove in two runs as the Dodgers lost for the fourth time in their past five.

Gordon was making his season debut after getting recalled from Triple-A after Hanley Ramirez was placed on the disabled list because of a strained left hamstring. He had two hits, scored twice and added a pair of steals.

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez was scratched for a second straight game due to a sore neck, while the Dodgers bullpen was taxed after rookie Matt Magill lasted only 1 1/3 innings in his second career start.

San Francisco, meanwhile, saw Angel Pagan exit following the fifth inning on Saturday due to a right hamstring strain.

The Giants took two of three from the Dodgers in a season-opening series last month and swept their rivals in three-game sets twice last season: once at home and once on the road.