SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Matt Cain was dressing at his locker when he heard the Scottsdale Stadium crowd let out a loud cheer.
A clubhouse attendant descended the stairs from the dugout with the update: Jae-gyun Hwang had just hit his first home run.
“How far did he flip his bat?” Cain said.
Not far at all, actually. Hwang had more important things on his mind than celebrating his first home run in a Giants uniform. His three-run shot off right-hander Jim Henderson went to the opposite field in the sixth inning of a 8-6 victory over a Cubs split-squad – an impressive bit of contact, even if it barely cleared the fence here and wouldn’t have had a prayer of going out at AT&T Park.