LOS ANGELES — It was a quintessential day in the Southland: sunny and warm, smog obscuring the San Gabriel mountains, an earthquake rumbling the ground and Matt Cain losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cain remained winless in eight career starts against the Giants' arch rivals, but even in his star-crossed past, there was nothing to equal what happened in a 2-0 loss last night.

Left fielder Fred Lewis accidentally flicked a ball out of play, turning what appeared to be a resounding out call at the plate into a contentious run the Giants couldn't afford to give up.

"It makes you want replay in baseball more and more," said Lewis, who claimed he retrieved the ball before it left the field of play — a contention that video footage appeared to support.

The confusion began in the sixth inning. The Giants couldn't score against journeyman Jason Johnson and two relievers, leaving Cain with no margin for error again. He finally paid for a mistake, hanging a two-out, two-strike breaking ball that James Loney lined for a run-scoring single.

Cain swatted the air with his right hand. The hit snapped a streak of 14 scoreless innings.

Casey Blake followed with a flare down the left-field line that bounced in front of Lewis, ticked off the heel of his glove and landed atop the wall that separates foul ground from the stands. A fan didn't appear to touch the ball, and it didn't appear to roll off the 2-foot-wide padded surface. Lewis picked up the ball and heaved it to the cutoff man, and Loney was out easily at the plate.

But the umpires caucused, and perhaps not wanting to surprise Giants Manager Bruce Bochy with what they were about to do, they called him onto the field.

"The ruling on the field was that it left the top of the padding and went into the stands," crew chief Greg Gibson said. "Once it's in the stands, it's dead."

And runners advance two bases. So Loney was awarded the plate. Even though the official scorer credited Blake with a double, umpires essentially gave him a single and awarded him third base.

Bochy said the top of the wall is considered in play, but more than one umpire claimed to see the ball roll past the padded surface and drop into the stands. Lewis insisted that isn't what happened.

Even if the Giants had scored a run or more, they couldn't have protested the ruling. It was not an interpretation of a ground rule that was in question, but whether the ball rolled over the edge of the wall.

"I don't think it did," Bochy said.

It was a strange play on a day that began with players and coaches getting jolted at their Pasadena hotel by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake.

Cain was a forlorn figure on the mound during the delay.

"I don't know if it was a turning point, but it was an extra run," Cain said. "And the way their bullpen is throwing, it's definitely a tough battle."

Despite the outcome, there was encouragement to be found in Cain's seven innings. He struck out eight and didn't walk a batter for the second consecutive start — the first time he has accomplished that in his career.

Cain also shrugged off a line drive that hit his right foot with such force that it ricocheted into foul territory.

Cain has a 2.89 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers this season yet hasn't broken his winless streak against them. It's an unexpected mark for a pitcher who has done so well against the rest of the National League West.

"It's always some odd thing that comes out, whether they string a couple infield hits together or I get goofy and walk some guys," Cain said. "It's always been a battle with these guys, I know it."

At least Cain wasn't swallowed by a fault line.