A look into how Matt Cain solved the hot Nats hitters two games in a row

The Nationals struggled to solve Giants right-hander Matt Cain Saturday in the 7-1 setback. It was the second start in a row that the three-time All-Star had the Nationals' number.

In their first meeting in San Francisco last week, Cain tossed five no-hit innings against the Nats in a 3-1 victory.

Saturday, Cain held the Nationals scoreless while pitching five innings again, this time allowing five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

The Nationals had chances to score runs in both games, but left 15 men on base. They were a combined 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the two games that Cain started this week against the Nats.

"Yeah, it is a little difficult," Cain said about facing a team twice in seven days. "But we've done that in the playoffs, and it happens every once and a while during the season. So you've just got to go out there and keep pitching and try to adjust if you see those guys making adjustments as well."

The best chance for the Nats had against Cain Saturday arrived in the fourth when they loaded the bases with one out. But Wilson Ramos was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on a grounder off the bat of Ben Revere. The grounder up the first base line was handled well by Giants first baseman Brandon Belt. Stephen Strasburg grounded out to end the threat.

"These guys can swing it from the bottom to the top of the lineup," Cain said of the Nats hitters. "They're going to swing the bat. They've done a good job of it lately. And it's just trying to limit the damage when you get in big situations."

Manager Dusty Baker said the missed opportunities against Cain were all too familiar.

"Kind of the same thing we saw with Cain the last time," Baker said. "He was throwing strikes and near-strikes and quite a few balls at the same time. That makes it a little tough to zero in on an area if he's missing. But he had a pretty good slider tonight. He had a better slider than he did over in San Francisco."

Ray Knight commented on this during MASN's "Nats Xtra" postgame show about how Cain showed his fastball but then got Bryce Harper (three strikeouts) and Daniel Murphy (three groundouts) with his off-speed stuff.

"I felt like my stuff is good," Cain said of the start. "It's just matter of limiting the mistakes and staying focused on that. And just going out there and letting the stuff come out and then I was trying to work deep into a game."

Another big chance for the Nationals had arrived earlier in the third. Following a Strasburg double and a Trea Turner walk, Jayson Werth's 109 mph hotshot was caught by third baseman Eduardo Nunez, who was then able to complete the 5-4-3 double play. If that ball gets through, the Nationals could have been up 2-0 early.

"I thought we were going to get to him, quite honestly, but we didn't," Baker said. "One of the big blows, Jayson hit a rocket down at the third baseman. It was like the ball caught him, instead of him catching the ball. That was the big play. They turned it into a double play."