Month: June 2024

The Chicago Cubs Ian Happ connects for a two run home run in top of the tenth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Thu Jun 27, 2024 (AP News photo)

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Chicago Cubs 5 (38-44)

San Francisco Giants 3 (39-43)

Win: Hector Neris (7-2)

Loss: Luke Jackson (4-2)

Save: Porter Hodge (1)

Time: 2:51

Attendance: 31,535

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Giants couldn’t sweep the Chicago Cubs on Thursday as the Cubs Ian Happ hit a top of the tenth inning two run home run to beat San Francisco at Oracle Park 5-3 breaking a 3-3 deadlock. With the win the Cubs end a four game losing streak and avoid getting swept in four games.

The Giants’ offense has stayed alive in this series, and they looked to keep that going, as the Giants looked to complete their sweep of the Cubs on this beautiful sunny and hazy day at Oracle Park. Jordan Hicks, who struggled in the heat of his old ballpark in St. Louis, would make the start and hoped to bounce back in a more temperate climate in San Francisco.

Hicks started off the inning with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, and Cubs’ starter Shota Imanaga did the same in the bottom of the first.

Hicks threw a scoreless inning in the top of the second, but it didn’t come without its drama. Ian Happ walked with one out; and then with two outs, Dansby Swanson blooped a base-hit to left-center field, and Happ was nailed at the plate trying to score all the way from first base. Imanaga then threw a scoreless inning in the bottom of the second.

Pete Crow-Armstrong was nicked by a pitch to start the top of the third, and two batters later, Nico Hoerner hooked a low-hanging home run down the left field line to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Michael Busch struck out swinging, and then Cody Bellinger reached on an infield hit to third.

Seiya Suzuki then hit a line drive to right, but right-fielder Luis Matos came in on the ball when he should have gone back, which allowed the ball to go over his glove and hit off the bottom of the wall. Bellinger scored, and Suzuki went into third with a triple.

Hicks escaped the top of the third without any further damage, but the Cubs had themselves a 3-0 lead. The Giants threatened in the bottom of the third, as Nick Ahmed walked to start the inning, and Curt Casali singled Ahmed over to second. However, the Giants’ offense reverted back to their old ways and were unable to come through.

Both pitchers threw 1-2-3 innings in the fourth, and after Hicks ended his afternoon with a scoreless top of the fifth. Hicks was fairly solid, giving up three hits on five hits with seven strikeouts.

Imanaga pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth, and Spencer Bivens came in to pitch a 1-2-3 inning for San Francisco in the top of the sixth.

Austin Slater singled to start the bottom of the sixth, but Heliot Ramos popped out, and Wilmer Flores flew out. Matt Chapman singled the other way to right to move Slater over to second, and that brought up Jorge Soler.

Soler continued his renewed success with runners in scoring position by putting the Giants on the board with a ground rule double to left-center. Imanaga then threw a wild pitch to Luis Matos, and Chapman scored to make it 3-2.

Matos hit a squibber to second that he was able to beat out, and Soler came in to score to tie it. Just as the Giants came back from down 4-0 to tie Monday night’s game, they came back from 3-0 with a three-run bottom of the sixth inning to tie Thursday’s game.

Erik Miller came in and retired the first two men he faced in the top of the seventh. Hoerner then lined a base-hit up the middle into center field and stole second, and Michael Busch walked. That brought up Cody Bellinger, who struck out swinging to end the inning.

Luke Little replaced Imanaga and threw a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh. Suzuki led off the top of the eighth with a double off of Ryan Walker, but Walker retired the next three guys he faced to get out of it without any damage.

Tyson Miller pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth for Chicago, and Sean Hjelle pitched out of trouble for the Giants in the top of the ninth. Cubs’ closer Hector Neris then pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to send this thing to the 10th.

Luke Jackson came in for the 10th, and with the game in extra innings, that of course meant the inning would start with a runner at second. Suzuki grounded out to end the inning, and then Ian Happ hit a home run to the Cubs’ bullpen out in right-center to put Chicago back ahead 5-3.

Porter Hodge was the new pitcher for the Cubs in the bottom of the tenth, and Patrick Bailey was the runner at second for the Giants. Brett Wisely singled on a Texas leaguer to left to start the bottom of the 10th, but Hodge retired the next three batters down in order to end it.

The Giants were unable to get the sweep, which would have given them a lot of momentum going into a very tough nine-game stretch that will start Friday night.

Hector Neris got the win; Luke Jackson got the loss; and Porter Hodge picked up his first-career save.

The Giants fall to 39-43, and that stretch will begin with a three-game series against their hated rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, that will start Friday night. Logan Webb (6-6, 3.16 ERA) will be on the mound, and he will be opposed by Dodgers’ right-hander Landon Knack (1-1, 2.10 ERA).

Giants News and Notes:

LaMonte Wade Jr. will be activated off the Injured List tomorrow and is expected to be in the lineup against the Dodgers. Wade strained his left hamstring on May 27 against the Phillies.

Most importantly, the Giants will be getting a big bat back in the lineup with Wade, who was hitting .333 before going down.

San Francisco Giants Luis Matos reaches home plate after hitting a bottom of the fifth inning home run against the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Thu Jun 26, 2024 (AP News photo)

On San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca:

#1 Michael, the Giants are getting some clutch hits and Wednesday was no different when Michael Conforto and David Villar both who hit back to back home runs in the second inning tying the game and set the tone of the Giants picking up their third straight win over the Chicago Cubs Monday through Wednesday.

#2 Luis Matos got the go ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Matos hit his second home run of the season. Matos is hitting .240 how impressive and impactful has Matos hitting been in the Giants line up?

#3 With the loss the Cubs have now lost four straight they surfaced out of last place momentarily surpassing the Cincinnati Reds only to drop back into last place in the NL Central once again. The Cubs had been competitive and earlier a post season contender what changed and brought the lovable losers back to this present day?

#4 Talk about the debut of rookie pitcher Hayden Birdsong who was just called up from Triple A Sacramento and started for the parent club on Wednesday pitching 4.2 innings, giving three runs, six hits, and five strikeouts. Birdsong said he was stoked to pitch in a winning ball game in his big league debut.

#5 Michael talk about Thursday’s starters for the Cubs it’ll be LHP Shota Imanaga (7-2, ERA 2.96) and for the Giants RHP Jordan Hicks (4-4, ERA 3.24). Imanaga is having a good season and the Cubs despite their struggles have relied on Imanaga and have played well behind him. Hicks has pitched well enough to win games that he has lost and has a commanding ERA of 3.24.

Join Michael for the Giants podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Luis Matos (right) is congratulated by San Francisco Giants third base coach Matt Williams (9) after hitting a bottom of the fifth home run against the Chicago Cubs that put the Giants on top at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Jun 26, 2024 (AP News photo)

Chicago (37-44). 010 110 000 3. 9. 0

San Francisco (39-42). 030 010 00x. 4. 6. 1

Time: 2:25

Attendance: 30,893

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–There was an air of indeterminacy to this Wednesday night’s Giants 4-3 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs that went beyond (perhaps it’s better to say they preceded) the usual questions about a game’s outcome.

The home team’s starting pitcher was 22 year old righty Hayden Birdsong, promoted from Sacramento on game day to make his major league debut. He had been a reliever in college and the low minors, but the Giants have been trying to stretch him out until he’s strong enough to join the starting rotation.

Compared with Birdsong, the Cubs’ opener, another Hayden, a 26 year old surnamed Wesneski, with 163-1/3 big league innings, including 41 this season under his belt, was a wizzend veteran. He brought a record of 2-4, 3.29 and a WHIP of 1.20 for the year with him to the mound. The lineup card distributed before the game lists him in the bullpen section. This was his fourth start of the season, but I haven’t been able to determine how many, if any, of the other three were as an opener.

Would this, then, be the Giants’ third consecutive bullpen game? And would the Cubs adopt the same multi-arm strategy?

Although Birdsong retired the side in order in the first, his control weakened in the second frame, and a pair of walks, a wild pitch, and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s single to right put the Cubs up, 1-0. (What musical match ups tonight afforded us! Two Haydens and a raven facing a Birdsong)!

The Giants got that run back and two more in their half of the frame. Patrick Bailey led off with a walk, and, after Jorge Soler and Thairo Estrada fanned, Michael Conforto put San Francisco ahead his his ninth home run of the year, a 411 foot blast over the left auxiliary scoreboard in right field, and David Villar followed with his first, a 433 foot no doubter that landed in in the patio in front of the center field batter’s eye.

The Chicagoans closed in on their hosts in the top of the fourth. Christopher Morel led off with a single to left and would have gotten a double if a replay hadn’t shown that Conforto’s throw had cut him down at second. Dansby Swanson sent Héctor Ramos to the warning track to haul down his fly to center. Birdsong walked Crow-Armstrong on a full count, and he scored all the way from first on Miguel Anaya’s single to left. That made it a 3-2 game, with SF still in front.

Both teams had pitchers warming up in the bullpen in the top of the fifth, even before Seiya Suzuki knotted the score with his dinger into the Cubs’ warm up space with the bases empty and two out. Luke Jackson stopped his warm ups, walked to the mound, and threw in earnest to Ian Happ, whose grounder to first ended the inning.

The Giants had gotten all they could reasonably expect from Birdsong. He gave them 4-2/3 innings and left with the score tied. That eased the strain on their overtaxed bullpen. It was more than what’s required from an opener but less than what you want from a starter. He threw 97 pitches, 55 for strikes. The three runs scored against him were earned and came on six hits, three walks, and a wild pitch, He now has a major league record of 0-0, 5.79.

It also was better than the more experienced Hayden Wisneski could do. He didn’t come out for the bottom of the fifth, having thrown 72 pitches, 30 of which were balls, and having allowed only two hits, but both of them were home runs.

Wisneski walked one batter and struck out three. The no decision left him at 2-4, 3.60. Drew Smyle, the losing pitcher in Wednesday night’s game and Monday night’s walk off Giant win, replaced Wisneski and coughed up the lead on a two out solo home run by Matos, 375 feet from home into the left field bleachers, his third round tripper in the part of the season he’s spent in the show.

Smyle was gone after toiling an inning and a third, leaving runners on first and second with two out in the sixth. Porter Hodge got the second and third outs, but the orange and black were back on top, 4-3. Hodge hurled a scoreless seventh and yielded to Keagan Thompson for the eighth.

Erik Miller jumped on the monticular merry-go-round to hurl a 1-2-3 seventh for the home towners, followed by Tyler, the right handed submarining Rogers brother, who, with a little help from a pitcher’s best friend, preserved the Giants’ 4-3 avantage.

An advantage that Camilo Doval almost threw away en route to his 14th save. Two Giant pitchers already had picked a runner off base. Doval tried to do it on Swanson, who had singled to lead off the top of the ninth.

He threw the ball past Villar, putting the potential tying run in scoring position. But Doval bore down and retired the next three Cubs to preserve the 4-3 win and give the Giants a chance to sweep the series, which will wind up Thursday, afternoon. The first pitch is slated for 12:45 and to be thrown by Jordan Hicks (4-4, 3.24). He’ll be opposed by Shota Imanaga (7-2, 2.96).