The Giants were heralded for their smart baseball and ability to maximize opportunities in their 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs Saturday at Wrigley Field.
But it appeared Sunday that they left that smart baseball in the past, as a bevy of missed opportunities and a pitching collapse down the stretch doomed the team in an 8-3 loss that clinched the series for Chicago and dropped the Giants to three games each behind the Colorado Rockies and under .500.
The Giants’ offense showed up for the beginning of the game and pounced on a wild start from Cubs starter Tyler Chatwood, as the team’s first run of the game came in the first inning with the bases loaded when Pablo Sandoval beat out a two-out ground ball to short to score Brandon Belt from third. With the bases still loaded, Mac Williamson then singled to right, scoring Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford to put the Giants up 3-0.
But the Cubs responded in the bottom of the frame when Kris Bryant doubled to right to score Albert Almora Jr., who had singled to reach base on a ball deflected by Giants’ starter Ty Blach. Anthony Rizzo then hit a sharp line drive that again deflected off Blach as well as second base umpire Cory Blaser, scoring Bryant. Yet the curse of the deflections was not done with the Giants in the inning. After Kyle Schwarber singled to center to advance Rizzo to third, Addison Russell hit yet another deflected ball off of Blach, earning the Cubs’ third infield hit of the inning and scoring Rizzo from third. Mac Williamson’s impressive running catch in left-center robbed Jason Heyward of extra bases and finally ended the inning.
The Giants once again loaded the bases in the second, this time with none out, but were unable to score any runs, as Belt and Longoria struck out before Crawford lined out to end the inning. They repeated the feat in the third with two out, but Andrew McCutchen grounded out to third to end the inning.
The missed opportunities would come back to haunt the Giants, as Javier Baez’s three-run home run to right put the Cubs up 6-3 in the fourth. The Cubs added two insurance runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.
In all, the Giants left 13 runners on base. They begin a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies Monday.
