SAN FRANCISCO — It started right from the first pitch of the game, which Pete Crow-Armstrong deposited into the seats at Oracle Park.
And it continued through nine innings of the Cubs putting together the sort of offense we saw during the two 10-game winning streaks. Not that another one’s necessarily going to follow, but I have always believed that these Cubs hitters were too good to have slumps like this for much longer.
Ian Happ and Pedro Ramirez added homers and Ben Brown threw five solid innings and hey, look! The Cubs extended their winning streak to three with a 6-1 win over the Giants.
Let’s begin at the beginning, because PCA did [VIDEO].
About that first batter of the game homer, from BCB’s JohnW53:
PCA’s homer was the Cubs’ second this season by their first batter of a game on the road. Nico Hoerner did it at Tampa on April 8.
They did it four times last season: three by Michael Busch and one by Ian Happ.
PCA is the 61st Cub to turn the trick since 1910. They have done it 116 times. Alfonso Soriano is the leader, with 12. Dexter Fowler hit seven; Happ, Brian McRae and Rick Monday, five. PCA is the 37th with one.
The Cubs got a couple more men on base in the first, but Happ hit into a double play to end the inning.
Ben Brown was once again solid through two innings, allowing a hit in each, but no runs.
Then the Cubs extended their lead in the third. PCA led off with a double. One out later, Michael Busch walked. Seiya Suzuki drove in PCA with this single [VIDEO].
Busch went to third on that hit. Then this happened [VIDEO].
Both Happ and Busch were credited with stolen bases on that play — I’m not sure what Giants catcher Eric Haase was thinking, or what the Giants infielders were doing, because no one was covering second base. So Busch, a very unlikely stolen-base guy in the first place, gets a steal of home. More from John:
The last Cub before Michael Busch to steal home was Kyle Tucker, on a double steal with Seiya Suzuki, on July 22 of last year, at Kansas City, with two outs in the seventh inning and the Cubs ahead, 5-0.
The last Cubs first baseman to do it was Lloyd McClendon, on a double steal with Damon Berryhill on May 19, 1989, at Cincinnati, with one out in the fifth inning and the Cubs ahead, 5-2. Busch’s was the Cubs’ 16th steal of home since then.
McClendon stole seven bases in his 141 games as a Cub over two seasons. Busch now has swiped eight in 377 games as a Cub over three seasons.
So it’s 3-0 Cubs. The Giants got one run back off Brown in the third, and then the Cubs made the lead three runs again in the fourth, all with two out and no one on base. The first two Cubs, Ramirez and Miguel Amaya, struck out. Dansby Swanson followed with a walk and went to third on a single by PCA, his third hit of the game. Alex Bregman was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
In the bottom of the fourth with one out and a runner on first, Matt Chapman hit a sinking liner to right. Suzuki made an awkward attempt to catch it and Chapman wound up with a single [VIDEO].
Suzuki left the game and Matt Shaw took over in right. Here’s what we know as of now:
Let’s hope this is nothing serious. I’d think Michael Conforto would likely start in right field Sunday, though.
The Cubs made it 6-1 in the fifth on a pair of solo homers.
Hopefully, they got that ball back for Ramirez. And for the record, it went a long way [VIDEO].
Brown was lifted after five innings and 86 pitches. It wasn’t quite as dominant as his previous recent outings, but it was certainly good enough. Here’s more on Brown’s game [VIDEO].
Three Cubs relievers, Ethan Roberts, Caleb Thielbar and Phil Maton, threw four no-hit innings in relief of Brown, issuing one walk and striking out four. Maton, in particular, is digging himself out of the big hole he found himself in earlier this year. Since allowing three runs to the White Sox May 17, Maton has a 2.45 ERA and 1.454 WHIP in 12 appearances covering 11 innings, and a FIP of 2.89. That’s certainly an improvement. Perhaps he’ll be a useful reliever after all.
So, three in a row! From John:
The Cubs’ three-game winning streak is their third-longest of the season, after their two 10-game streaks. They won back-to-back games three times, then lost the third.
The offense appears solid looking at the box score, but I’m going to open the complaint department door just a little. The Cubs had 11 hits, four walks, two men hit by a pitch and another hitter reaching on an error, with Giants pitchers throwing a huge number of pitches, 187 in all. That’s a lot of traffic on the bases for only six runs. They went 1-for-11 with RISP and left 12 runners on base. Since they won the game convincingly this is only a minor thing, but… gotta be better in those situations.
Back to happier things — here’s Ramirez on his home run [VIDEO].
PCA’s season OPS is now up to .803 after his three-hit game. He was NL Player of the Week last week and who knows, he might do it again — in the five games on the trip he’s batting .318/.348/.682 (7-for-22) with three doubles, a triple, a home run and five runs scored.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are Swanson, who is 2-for-16 (.125) with eight strikeouts on the road trip, and Nico Hoerner, who went 0-for-5 and is 3-for-20 (.150) in the five games in Colorado and San Francisco and over his last 21 games is batting .183/.244/.207 (15-for-82). I’d think Craig Counsell will sit at least one of those two players Sunday afternoon, just for a reset, likely Nico.
The Cubs will try for a series sweep Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park. It will not be easy, as the Giants’ best starter, Logan Webb, will take the mound. Colin Rea will go for the Cubs after Ryan Rolison is the opener. Game time is 2:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via ABC (full national broadcast, no blackouts), and streaming on the ESPN app. Announcers: Jon Sciambi, David Ross and Buster Olney.
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