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Giants come close, but fall short to Cubs 5-4

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On a cold, windy night at Wrigley Field Wednesday, there was much talk that the wind wouldn’t allow for much offense, let alone home runs.

Anthony Rizzo thought otherwise.

The Cubs slugger smashed two solo shots off Giants starter Matt Moore and the Cubs ended up on the better side of a back-and-forth battle, defeating the Giants 5-4.

It was the 14th time in Rizzo’s career that the All-Star had hit multi-home runs in a game.

 

The Giants got on the board early when Christian Arroyo drove in Brandon Crawford via fielder’s choice in the second. But Rizzo responded in the bottom half of the inning, sending the second pitch he saw from Moore over the ivy in right field for his first solo shot of the game.

Denard Span wasted no time in returning to the lineup and regaining the lead after missing two days with soreness in his left thumb. He launched a 1-1 pitch from Hendricks into the right-center bleachers for his third homer of the season and the Giants nineteenth consecutive solo shot in the third, putting San Francisco up 2-1.

Cue Rizzo again in the bottom of the fourth however, who took the first pitch from Moore this time and sent it into the bleachers as well for his second solo blast of the night. The Cubs would tack one more on in the bottom of the fifth when Javier Baez knocked in Addison Russell courtesy of a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.

The Giants managed to escape a possible devastating inning in the bottom of the sixth, thanks in part to the aforementioned wind and some unlucky base running. Jason Heyward’s potential game-breaking three-run homer was pushed just past the right field foul pole. Later in the bat, Heyward hit a dribbler that required Moore to field it with his momentum moving to foul territory. Moore’s throw to Belt hit Heyward, but because Heyward was in fair territory, he was called out and Kris Bryant, who was coming in to score, went back to third.

But the Giants went down in order in the seventh and Moore ran into some trouble, walking pinch-hitter Wilson Contreras after giving up a leadoff double to Miguel Montero. The walk would end his night after six innings in which he scattered seven hits over three earned runs, walked three and struck out four.

Baez bunted the first pitch off reliever George Kontos, who elected to go for third but rushed the throw, allowing Contreras to score. But Kontos maneuvered through and struck out Ian Happ to escape a bases-loaded jam, and limiting the Cubs damage to just one run.

The Giants had their chance to rally in the eighth, but couldn’t capitalize. With the bases loaded and a 3-2 count, Carl Edwards Jr. got Brandon Crawford to ground out back to him to end the inning and the biggest San Francisco threat of the game. The Cubs would add on one more just for good measure during the home half when Jon Jay flied out to deep right off Steven Okert, scoring Heyward. While it served as an insurance run at the time, the Cubs would go on to need it more than they suspected.

Mac Williamson fouled off eight straight pitches against Cubs closer Wade Davis in the ninth, then promptly ended the Giants solo shot streak by launching a two-run shot over the basket in right field. The Giants came just two solo blasts away from tying their own major league record of 21 consecutive solo home runs. It was the first home run Davis had given up since 2015 and his first earned runs of the year.

But it was too little too late for San Francisco. After walking Michael Morse, Davis retired Span on a bloop to shallow center and struck out an unhappy Joe Panik on a full count via a questionable strike three call to end the game.

Kyle Hendricks picked up his fourth win for the Cubs, going seven innings and allowing five hits over two runs, striking out five and walking none. Moore is now 2-5 on the year. Wade Davis allowed a lead off single to Eduardo Nunez in the ninth, but struck out Christian Arroyo,

The Giants and Jeff Samardzija will aim to split the series with Chicago Thursday, taking on recent call-up Eddie Butler. Butler, who was brought up May 12, is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 11:20 a.m. PST.