Truly. Nothing new. Same ol’, same ol’ in this one. A 6-1 loss that felt pre-determined, or determined immediately after Pete Crow-Armstrong homered on the first pitch of the game thrown by Trevor McDonald.
PCA continued to be a menace all evening: he collected two more hits, came up a triple shy of the cycle, advanced to third on a flyout to left field, and scored two of Chicago’s six runs.
McDonald, far removed from his early success and efficiency, has officially spent too much time with Landen
Roupp and Robbie Ray. After pitching into the 7th inning in three of his first five starts, McDonald hasn’t reached the 6th in three consecutive outings. On Saturday night, 93 pitches didn’t even get him through four complete. He chucked a pair of wild pitches, walked three (his third consecutive game doing so), and hit a batter while surrendering 4 runs on 6 hits.
Some of that ineffectiveness can be blamed on Chicago’s peskiness. They refused to be grounded by McDonald’s sinker-heavy arsenal. But mixed in with the Cubs’ professional approach was a level of Bush League-ness exhibited by the Giants.
McDonald and reliever Reiver Sanmartin helped generate Chicago’s fourth run with this depressing sequence walk – single – HBP – walk — all started with two outs, the bases empty, and an inability to tempt the very temptable, .174 hitting Dansby Swanson to chase out of the zone.
This was actually the second time in as many frames in which San Francisco’s generosity overfloweth. With runners at the corners, Craig Counsell signaled for Ian Happ to steal second, and like many, many Little Leaguers before him, back-up catcher, Eric Haase couldn’t resist the throw down — despite no defender covering.
The Cubs managed just one-hit in 11 at-bats with a runner in scoring position. But free gifts of 90 feet and a trio of homers paced them plenty, as the Giants offense had to play catch-up against Ben Brown. They went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and struggled to get productive outs.
Rafael Devers watched the next three hitters go down in quick succession after his lead-off double in the 2nd. Luis Arraez’s RBI triple in the 3rd (extending his hitting streak to 13 games) got the Giants on the board, but after Bryce Eldridge walked, neither runner advanced further after Casey Schmitt and Rafael Devers both struck out. Willy Adames’s late jump on a loose ball got him cut down at third for a momentum-killing second-out in the 4th.
Right after that bungled scoring opportunity, Ian Happ and Pedro Ramirez both homered off Sanmartin to extend Chicago’s lead and effectively lay the Giants down for the night.
The victory earned the Cubs their first series win since early May. The loss was a rerun for Giants fans.
