For the first time in nearly three months, the Giants are a .500 baseball team.
San Francisco reached the finals of Wednesday’s series against the Chicago Cubs having lost five straight games and officially dropped to a 70-70 record with its sixth straight loss capped by a sweep in the Windy City.
Giants lefties Alex Wood (L, 2 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, BB, 2 K) got the start against Cubs lefties Jordan Wicks (W, 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, K) and He struggled early against a hot Chicago lineup.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Wood surrendered a bases-clearing double to Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki that gave Chicago an early 3-0 lead.
Center fielder Cody Bellinger tacked on another Cubs hit with an RBI double in the bottom of the third with one out. Wood was replaced by reliever Ryan Walker, who surrendered an RBI single to third baseman Nick Madrigal with two outs and two outs, extending the Cubs’ lead to 5-0.
The Giants’ struggling offense was held scoreless for most of the game as the Cubs continued to build on their early lead.
Chicago catcher Miguel Amaya singled out John Brebbia in the bottom of the fourth and designated hitter Christopher Morrell belted an RBI single from Sean Manaea in the bottom of the sixth with one out to extend the Cubs’ lead to 7-0.
The Giants finally reached the top of the seventh when third baseman Casey Schmidt doubled home for Luis Matos, catcher Joey Bart’s sacrifice bunt to second and Schmidt later scored from third, cutting Chicago’s lead to 7–2.
Bellinger collected his second RBI of the game on a solo home run off Manaea in the bottom of the seventh, extending the Cubs’ lead to 8-2.
Both offenses were quiet in the eighth and ninth innings, as the Cubs capped a series sweep of the Giants.
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