I thought about it, I really did — just posting the final score here and tomorrow’s pitchers and that’s it.
So, here you go: The Giants crushed the Cubs 18-3 Friday afternoon in a rain-delayed contest at Wrigley Field.
There was some history made here, and I wanted to tell you about that, plus show you one play that might have ignited this rout.
First, that play. It happened in the fourth inning with the Cubs down just 2-0 and Giants runners on first and second with one out.
Bryce Eldridge hit a ball
up the middle [VIDEO].
If Cabrera lets that ball go through, it probably goes right to Dansby Swanson, who’s in a position to turn an easy inning-ending double play. The score would have still been 2-0 going to the bottom of the fourth.
Instead, the bases are loaded. Matt Chapman was the next hitter. Could that have rattled Cabrera? Maybe, because two pitches later Chapman hit a grand slam and it’s 6-0 and you know the Cubs aren’t coming back from that.
About the slam, from BCB’s JohnW53:
The grand slam by Matt Chapman was just the second surrendered by the Cubs this season. The first was off Jameson Taillon, by Brandon Lowe of the Pirates, on April 12 — 49 games ago. That slam made the score 5-0 in the second inning. The Cubs won, 7-6, on Carson Kelly’s one-out, bases-loaded single in the ninth.
Unlike that day, the Cubs did not win this game.
Cabrera wound up serving up another homer in that inning, a two-run job, the third homer he allowed on the afternoon, to make it 8-0. After that and another single, he was removed for Phil Maton. Cabrera’s return to action, then, was not successful.
Maton managed to get through the fifth allowing just one run, but Hoby Milner got absolutely hammered by Giants hitters, allowing five hits and six runs, including a home run. Ethan Roberts relieved him and served up yet another homer, if you’re counting, it’s five. Milner’s season ERA went from 2.28 to 4.18 in this one outing.
Thus it’s 16-0 Giants going into the bottom of the sixth, and the Cubs have just two hits. They managed a run in the sixth when Seiya Suzuki walked (his third of the game). Ian Happ singled Suzuki to third and Carson Kelly drove him in [VIDEO].
So, no shutout for the Giants. Caleb Thielbar threw a scoreless eighth, and the Cubs put two up in the bottom of the inning. The first was on a solo homer by Suzuki, his ninth [VIDEO].
After that Pedro Ramirez singled and two outs later Miguel Amaya drove him in [VIDEO].
Giants manager Tony Vitello, a former college coach with no sense of occasion, lifted both Chapman and Willy Adames, both of whom had homered twice, before they had a chance for a third home run. There has never been a game with two players hitting three home runs. Could have at least had that history.
Chapman did have eight RBI. That matches the Wrigley Field record for anyone. Three visiting players had done it before Chapman: Orlando Cepeda of the Giants in 1961, Mike Schmidt of the Phillies in 1976 and Andre Dawson, when he was with the Expos, in 1985.
For some entertainment value, Kelly pitched the ninth inning. His first two pitches were deposited in the bleachers.
Kelly then got the next three hitters, two on infield popups, the third on a comebacker [VIDEO].
If you’ve lost count, that’s seven home runs hit by the Giants, one short of the franchise record. More from John:
This was the 12th game since 1901 in which the Cubs gave up at least seven home runs. It was the eighth since 2000.
The previous one was a 10-6 loss to the Diamondbacks on May 20, 2022. The two before that were against the Reds, 14-3 in 2010 and 12-7 in 2008. All three of those game were at home.
The Cubs served up eight homers twice, in an 11-inning, 13-12 loss to the Braves on May 28, 2006, and a 12-3 loss to the Tigers just three weeks later, on June 18.
It was also the most runs scored by the Giants at Wrigley Field since the first game of a doubleheader July 4, 1961. That was the game where Cepeda had eight RBI; he went 5-for-5. The 1961 Cubs were a horrid team that was in the first year of the awful College of Coaches experiment. They went 60-94. This year’s Cubs are, supposedly, better.
The home runs are more than just a concern. That’s 95 homers allowed by Cubs pitching in just 64 games, passing the Nationals (90 entering today) for the most in MLB. That would be 240 homers allowed for a full season, The franchise record is 235, set in 2021, and you know how bad a season that was. Let’s hope we’re not headed that way.
All you can do is pick up and try to win the next day’s game. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Landen Roupp will go for the Giants. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
