Giants’ Matt Cain to pitch in Fresno on Thursday

Matt Cain’s next rehab start will be in Fresno.

Sacramento River Cats manager Bob Mariano said the rehabbing San Francisco right-hander will take the mound Thursday for the Giants’ Triple-A club against the Grizzlies at Chukchansi Park.

“If all goes well, he should go back to San Francisco after,” Mariano said of Cain. “We’ll see.”

Cain, a three-time All Star, has been coming back from an elbow injury that’s prevented him from pitching in the majors since July 9, 2014. He’s made three rehab starts already, two for the River Cats.

Cain, 30, is one of the most successful players to graduate from the minors through the Grizzlies.

In Triple-A in 2005, Cain went 10-5 with a 4.39 ERA and 176 strikeouts to 83 walks in 145 2/3 innings during his lone season with the Grizzlies.

Fresno had been the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate for 17 years until this offseason when San Francisco left for Sacramento and the Grizzlies paired with the Houston Astros.

Cain could be making his final rehab start before joining the Giants.

The Grizzlies faced Cain last week in Sacramento and roughed him up for four runs (three earned) on six hits in 3 1/3 innings en route to a 6-3 Fresno victory.

Through three rehab starts, Cain is 0-2 with a 4.61 ERA and 15 strikes to three walks in 13 2/3 innings.

Cain was not at Chukchansi Park for Tuesday’s series opener. He’s expected to arrive to town Thursday afternoon.

A homecoming for old Grizzlies

The old version of the Grizzlies returned to Fresno on Tuesday and sparked some cheers.

The River Cats’ starting lineup consisted of eight ex-Grizzlies and four other former Fresno players were on Sacramento’s bench.

Mariano, who managed the Grizzlies from 2012-14, expressed excitement, though he was unsure before the game how his team would be received.

“I just know that it’s great to be back, seeing familiar faces,” Mariano said. “There’s a lot of good people here, and I enjoyed the time we had in Fresno.”

During pregame introductions, fans cheered for some River Cats. But they reserved louder ovations for the Grizzlies.

Travis Ishikawa, who provided clutch hitting last fall during the Giants’ World Series run, received the loudest applause among the River Cats.

Those cheers turned into screams when Ishikawa launched a solo home run in the second inning.

River Cats leadoff hitter Darren Ford also was cheered following his solo home run to start the game.

But the loudest applause during the early half of Tuesday’s game belonged to the Grizzlies.

Fresno leadoff hitter Tony Kemp got many fans off their seats when he delivered a two-run single that tied the game at 2-2 in the second inning. The cheers grew louder the same inning when Matt Duffy singled in two more runs and placed the Grizzlies ahead 4-2.

From a player standpoint, Grizzlies players said they don’t get into minor league rivalries mostly because they play so many games consecutively and there’s massive roster turnover every year.

But Grizzlies reliever Tyson Perez, a Hanford native, remembered how important the rivalry is for Fresno.

“This one’s big because how close the two teams are in California,” Perez said. “Then you add that they’re the Giants (Triple-A team) and we used to be the Giants.

“We always want to win. We want to win these for Fresno.”

This story was originally published June 23, 2015 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Giants’ Matt Cain to pitch in Fresno on Thursday."