Giants give up tenth inning homer, drop series finale to Cubs as three-game win streak ends

Reporting from ORACLE PARK

An Ian Happ go-ahead homer in the tenth off righty Luke Jackson was just enough to snap the San Francisco Giants three-game winning streak with a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs Thursday afternoon.

With the ghost runner leading off second to begin the tenth, the Giants turned to Jackson, their fifth reliever of the afternoon. He hung a breaking ball that Happ crushed to straightaway center for a two-run shot.

This story has been updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.

The Giants haven’t swept Chicago in a four-game series in San Francisco since June 1-4, 2012.

Simply put, the Giants were never able to string enough consistent plate appearances early against Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, Chicago’s prized free agent signing from Japan during the offseason. 

Though he lacks overpowering stuff on the mound at 5 -foot-10 and 175 pounds, the 30-year-old left-hander provides exceptional command and movement that played key in navigating through his first five scoreless innings of work against San Francisco with two walks and three strikeouts. 

On Inamaga’s success, Giants manager Bob Melvin had nothing but praise:

“I don’t know what we scouted the offseason — I know what we’ve seen during the season. It’s a high fastball that’s got good carry and plays better than the velo, a good split, mixes in enough breaking stuff to keep you off balance. First look is sometimes tough. I know there’s some teams that are struggled against him the first time.”

Even though Giants couldn’t initially figure out Imanaga, they stayed in the game thanks to a solid outing from righty Jordan Hicks, one of their few healthy starting pitchers at the moment — an irony considering he’s in the midst of his first full season as a certified rotation member. 

Hicks has shown signs of fatigue in his recent starts. During his last outing on Saturday, he moved to 80-2/3 innings on the season, surpassing his previous career high of 77-2/3 innings he threw as a St. Louis Cardinals rookie in 2018. 

On the halfway point in the league, Hicks said:

“I like our team — a little unhealthy right now overall. But if we can stay around .500 and work some guys back in, I think we’re in a good spot. Obviously we’re fighting out there — grinding. I think the effort is there so I think everything will come up come around soon as you start adding the pieces of the puzzle all together and ee what the finishing pieces looks like.”

The fatigue was apparent at times on Thursday, but Hicks’ performance — five innings, five hits, two walks, seven strikeouts — was exactly what the Giants could’ve hoped for as they continue to scour the organization for valuable innings.  

A three-run third inning was the only dark spell on Hicks’ otherwise strong pitching line. The frame led off with Hicks drilling Pete Crow-Armstrong with a pitch before the Chicago center fielder took advantage by stealing both second and third with ease. The Giants have allowed 90 stolen bases – the most in the big leagues – an issue Melvin says they’re constantly working to fix.

Two batters later, Nico Hoerner deposited a two-run shot that barely cleared over the left field fence. Later in the half-inning, Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single and was then knocked in by Seiya Suzuki‘s RBI triple to make it 3-0. 

After trailing 3-0, the Giants finally broke through in the sixth with a three-run inning to even the score, and they did much of the heavy lifting with two outs. After Austin Slater and Matt Chapman each singled, Jorge Soler launched an RBI ground-rule double to the left-center gap.

Inamaga unleashed a wild pitch to score Chapman from third and later allowed an infield single — a little squibber to the right side — to Luis Matos to make it 3-3.

The Giants bullpen combined for four scoreless innings between Spencer Bivens, Erik Miller, Ryan Walker and Sean Hjelle.

On his use of the bullpen, Melvin said Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers were unavailable on Tuesday, but credited the bullpen’s performance during the homestand:

“Depending on where we are in the game, (we’re) trying to keep guys available for the next day — have length one day, have some length the next day. Other than Webby, we were getting some short starts right now. So it’s a little bit of a mix and match every day to make sure you have enough guys to cover nine innings.”

Up Next

The Giants continue their homestand Friday evening as they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series. Righty Logan Webb (6-6, 3.16 ERA) will start the opening game against Dodgers’ Landon Knack (1-1, 2.10 ERA).

Notes

The Giants continue to put a high premium on many of their soon-to-be returners from the injured list, including first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., who has been shelved since May 28 with a left hamstring strain. According to Bob Melvin, Wade Jr. will be activated on Friday if all goes well. … Righty Alex Cobb will throw a bullpen on Friday and will begin a rehab assignment for Low-A San Jose if everything goes well. Kyle Harrison will also throw a bullpen on Friday.

Steven Rissotto

Steven Rissotto has covered the San Francisco Giants for SFBay since 2021. He is the host of RizzoCast, a baseball interview show featuring players, coaches, media and fans. He attends San Francisco State University and will major in Journalism and minor in education.