The day after finally hitting a home run with someone on base, a trio of solo shots beat the Giants on Thursday afternoon.
Jeff Samardzija was dominant for most of Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Kris Bryant and Jason Heyward put balls in the basket over the ivy in the 1st and 5th innings, and Ben Zobrist added another homer in the 6th as the Cubs took three of four games in the series.
The Giants missed a chance to clinch a winning record on their seven-game trip to Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field. In retrospect, they were fortunate to go 3-4. Their first two victories in St. Louis could have gone either way, and were aided by Cardinals’ mistakes in the field and on the base paths.
Samardzija held the Cubs to just six total hits while striking out eight in seven innings. In addition to losing the decision, he also snapped the longest walk-free streak by a Giants starter in more than three decades.
Bill Laskey was the last Giant to have four walk-free starts in a row, back in 1984. Samardzija was on his way to making it five consecutive starts before he walked Ian Happ in the sixth inning. It was the first walk that Samardzija issued since April 28, when the Padres’ Jabari Blash drew a base on balls. Samardzija had faced 154 batters between the two walks.
The Giants are 14-7 when they score four or more runs, and based on their swings in the 1st inning, they appeared headed for a productive game. Denard Span hit a leadoff double and scored on Brandon Belt’s double to the wall.
But the Giants went down in order in the next two innings, Justin Ruggiano popped up with two on base in the 4th and the Giants ran their way out of an opportunity in the 5th.
They had runners at the corners with one out in the 5th after Samardzija doubled, advanced on a wild pitch and Span walked. But Butler threw a pickoff attempt over to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who applied a tag and the Cubs won a replay challenge as Span slinked back to the dugout. Joe Panik grounded out to end the inning.
The Cubs scored two more runs in the eighth on a wild pitch when Josh Osich threw a ball in the dirt and catcher Buster Posey threw off line to the Osich covering the plate.
Up next the Giants return home to face Atlanta for a three game set against the Braves, with Matt Cain taking on Jaime Garcia on Friday.