By Jeremy Harness

If the Giants were going to get a morale boost, it stood to reason that Matt Cain’s return to action would do the trick and carry the team through.

Unfortunately for the Giants, that did not happen Thursday afternoon.

Cain took the hill for the first time this season, but that was not enough as the Miami Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the Giants, 5-4, at Marlins Park.

It was looking good at first for Cain, who was making his first start in almost a year after recovering from ankle and elbow surgeries. He held a 3-1 lead into the fifth inning after Gregor Blanco’s solo home run gave the Giants that lead.

However, the tide changed dramatically in the bottom half of that inning. The Marlins started that rally as Cain’s pitching counterpart, Jose Fernandez, teed off on Cain for a solo homer to cut the lead to one run.

Then, a familiar nemesis struck again. Justin Bour, who victimized Santiago Casilla the night before with a walk-off three-run homer, took Cain deep for yet another three-run shot to give Miami a 5-3 lead.

The Giants attempted to make a comeback, as Buster Posey hit a solo homer in the top of the eighth, but the Giants would get no closer, and they headed to Washington on an extreme downer, having been swept by one of the worst teams in baseball.

Cain went five innings and gave up those five runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out two.

Posey drove in a pair of runs for the Giants, while Blanco had a pair of hits – including that solo homer – and scored twice.