CHICAGO — The Giants did what they couldn’t a day earlier: They plated the automatic runner placed at second base to begin extras and prevented the Cubs from doing so in their turn to bat.
Jonah Cox, in as a pinch-runner, raced home on an opposite-field single from Matt Chapman for only the Giants’ second run of the game that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win Sunday night against the Cubs, who walked them off in extras the previous afternoon.
Chapman’s RBI single was only the Giants’ fourth hit of the night and their first since the fourth inning, completely stymied by Javiar Assad, who only entered the game after Jameson Taillon strained his hamstring one batter into the second inning.
Dylan Smith, one of the only arms left in the Giants’ bullpen, struck out Michael Conforto to begin the bottom of the 10th and worked around a stolen base that put the tying run on third and forced the infield in with one out to earn his first career save.
Willy Adames had to backpedal into the shallow outfield from the cut of the infield grass to secure a popup from Michael Busch for the second out and stranded the Cubs’ automatic runner 90 feet away with another popup from Alex Bregman for the final out.
The Giants were in action early against Taillon, who walked Rafael Devers and allowed him to come around to score on an opposite-field single from Jung Hoo Lee to open a 1-0 lead.
But as soon as Assad entered, the Giants went silent.
Assad allowed only three Giants to reach base while tossing 6 ⅓ shutout innings of surprise relief, putting the Cubs in position to break the 1-1 tie in the eighth. A walk and an error by Erik Miller had put runners at the corners with nobody out, but pinch-runner Kevin Alcantara was doubled up at third on a broken-bat line drive that went straight to Devers.
They survived the eighth and got around a walk from Winn in the ninth that put the potential winning run in scoring position and brought Pete Crow-Armstrong to the plate.
Crow-Armstrong, who provided the heroics with a walkoff homer the previous afternoon, came up with the winning run on second in the ninth but grounded out to first.
The Cubs led the majors in walkoff wins, and the Giants had been walked off more than all but one other team, but their fortunes flipped in a late-night finale to their 10-game, three-city trip.
What it means
The Giants, one of the majors’ worst teams away from home with a 14-23 road record entering the game, finished off their first non-losing road trip since their first of the season.
Who’s hot
Despite their struggles against Assad, the Giants should return home feeling good about the biggest bats in their order, which isn’t something that could be said for much of the season.
Before Taillon exited, Lee extended his hitting streak to 15 games — the longest active streak in the majors — and finished the trip batting 23-for-41.
Bryce Eldridge also extended his on-base streak to 14 games and went 15-for-35.
The much-maligned middle of the order has also come alive with Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman combining to drive in 31 runs on eight home runs and 10 other extra-base hits while batting a respectable .271.
Who’s not
The last time McDonald took the mound, he became the first Giants starter since his last turn in the rotation to complete five innings. This time around, another solid start from the rookie capped a suboptimal road trip from the rest of the pitching staff.
Despite their bats breaking out in a big way since they left home, the Giants still barely/didn’t even break/broke even over the 10 game, three-city trip.
Dating back to the start of the trip, the 6.49 ERA from Giants pitchers is the second-worst in the majors, ahead of only the Rockies, and it’s no secret what has been the biggest culprit.
The 55 walks issued over the course of the trip were the most by any Giants team over a 10-game stretch since 2010, averaging out to almost two every three innings.
Up next
The Giants face an ultra-quick turnaround before hosting the Nationals on Monday to begin a six-game homestand. Logan Webb, who flew ahead of the team, gets the ball against Miles Mikolas and will be tasked with trying to hold in check the majors’ top run-scoring operation.