Giants bash Brewers as Cain struggles

The Giants are one of six teams to which Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun cannot block a trade. Naturally, those trade-rumor feelers perk up with the veteran in the house this week — AT&T Park, that is.

Despite the Giants’ immediate need for a right-handed outfielder, their easy 11-5 win over Milwaukee Monday night proved San Francisco may not want an expensive, injury-prone liability just yet.

The Giants’ winning mentality revolves around the proverbial ‘next man up’ narrative. Mac Williamson hasn’t quite reached the power-hitter reputation he’s accumulated in the Pacific Coast League (6 home runs and 29 RBI), but he, Jarrett Parker and Gregor Blanco have given the Giants just enough to keep this team well in first place.

Blanco broke a 27 at-bat skid in the seventh with the game topper: a two-run RBI single in the sixth to give the Giants a five-run lead.

Braun advocates shouldn’t forget about Denard Span, who’s been a durable anchor in center field. He got the scoring party started with Splash Hit No. 70 off Chase Anderson, and went 3-for-5 on the night.

With Angel Pagan due back in the clubhouse no later than Wednesday — he tallied an RBI double to top a 3-for-7 rehab stint — the outfield will regain its depth, however left-leaning it remains.

The one bump on the Giants’ road to victory: a few rusty innings from a returning Matt Cain.

Cain’s stuff wasn’t bad, but he struggled to find the strike zone early on, resulting in a 3-2/3 inning,  five-walk outing. Two of those walks came with the bases loaded, squandering the Giants’ early 2-0 lead.

The Giants’ offense expelled some pent up production that had been clogged against the Dodgers’ southpaw triumvirate.

They released that angst Monday night against a familiar righty in Anderson, scoring as many runs tonight as they had over the past four games on 14 hits.

Shayna Rubin is SFBay’s San Francisco Giants beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @ShaynaRubin on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Giants baseball.