Once Again, Padres Can’t Handle Cain

Matt Cain carried a no-hit bid into the sixth on the way to his fourth consecutive victory, and the San Francisco Giants gained ground on the wild-card leading San Diego Padres with a 4-0 victory Friday night.

Pedro Feliz and Omar Vizquel each singled in a run and Shea Hillenbrand added an RBI groundout for the Giants, who pulled to within 2 1/2 games of the Padres in the wild-card race and in so doing ended their five-game winning streak.

The loss also dropped the Padres 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers.

The Giants, in third place behind the Padres and Philadelphia Phillies for the wild card, won for the fifth time in six games and ninth in 13, getting yet another gem from Cain (12-9).

He has yielded only one earned run over his last five starts, and has not lost to the Padres in five outings.

The rookie right-hander did not give up a hit until Brian Giles singled to right with one out in the sixth, which ended his chance to become the second rookie in three days to throw a no-hitter after Anibal Sanchez pitched one in the Florida Marlins’ 2-0 win over Arizona on Wednesday.

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ROUNDUP

Philadelphia 3, at Florida 2: Ryan Howard hit his 55th and 56th home runs for the Phillies.

at Cincinnati 9, Pittsburgh 1: Catcher Javier Valentin homered in consecutive at-bats for the Reds.

at Atlanta 8, Chicago 4: Tim Hudson won his fourth straight decision, overcoming a couple of errors in the second inning that helped the Cubs take a 3-1 lead.

Houston 4, at Milwaukee 3: Roy Oswalt gave up five hits in seven innings for his sixth victory in his last seven decisions.

at Colorado 11, Washington 8: Chris Iannetta ended an 0-for-21 skid with a two-out, run-scoring single in the eighth inning to help the Rockies.

at Arizona 13, St. Louis 1: Livan Hernandez yielded two hits and one run in seven innings to win for only the second time in six starts since joining the Diamondbacks on Aug. 7.