Game Recap: Devers hits two homers as Giants blast Cubs |
Dustin Riese
· · 7 hours ago
SAN FRANCISCO - Despite the Chicago Cubs (76-57) kicking off their nine-game road trip in style by sweeping the Anaheim Angels, things have gone drastically different at Oracle Park as they have now dropped the first two games of their series against the San Francisco Giants (65-68). To make matters worse, Jameson Taillon hit the IL for the second time this season before the game, as the Cubs are hoping he can return to form come October.
This was one of those games where you want to flush it as quickly as possible, as a promising start to the game was a distant memory by the time the middle innings arrived. Backed by a trio of three-run innings, it was the Giants' offense continuing their late-season surge as they crushed the Cubs 12-3. Looking to continue his strong start was right-hander Colin Rea, but this proved to be one of his worst outings of the season. For someone who wasn't expected to be anything more than a swing guy this season, you're going to have some outings like this as Rea failed to make it out of the fifth, allowing seven runs (6ER) in just 4 2/3 to take the loss. With lefty Carson Whisenhunt on the mound for the Giants, you knew that runs could be challenging to come by for the Cubs offense as they haven't been able to hit lefties virtually all season. Take the first inning, for example, where Nico Hoerner led things off with a single, only to have Seiya Suzuki and Justin Turner work a pair of walks to load the bases with one out. Those are the opportunities you need to capitalize on as an offense, but it was Whisenhunt finding a way to escape the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play. A quick Rafael Devers homer followed that double play in the bottom of the first, and just like that, the Giants were back on top of the Cubs 1-0 as they have led most of this series thus far. Despite letting an excellent scoring opportunity slip away in the first, the Cubs' offense continued to apply pressure in the second, which eventually led to a big inning that put the Cubs on top. Once again, it was a leadoff single getting things started as Pete Crow-Armstrong picked up another, only to advance to second on a Dansby Swanson single shortly after. As expected, the Cubs came close to wasting that scoring opportunity only to have MR. RISP Hoerner bail them out as he connected for the three-run blast that put the Cubs on top 3-1. Little did they know, those would be the only runs of the game for the Cubs as Whisenhunt managed to give the Giants five good innings of three-run baseball while the San Francisco offense took care of the rest by scoring 11 unanswered runs to end the game. Three of those runs came in the third with Devers connecting for a ground rule double to pull the Giants within 3-2, and putting runners on second and third with no outs. Then came a pair of sacrifice flies from Willy Adames and Dominic Smith to give the Giants a 4-3 lead, and the rest is history as San Francisco would never trail again. Still trailing by that 4-3 score in the fifth, it was the Cubs who once again had a golden opportunity to come through offensively with Hoerner reaching base on a hit by pitch to set the offense up. That was followed by a one-out Kyle Tucker single and another walk as the Cubs loaded the bases for the second time off Whisenhunt, only to come away empty again. The same can't be said about the Giants and their offense, as they made sure to capitalize on their chances against Rea, with another one of those opportunities coming in the bottom of the fifth to put the game away. What started with a one-out walk to Devers was followed by a two-out Smith single as the Giants had a pair of runners on with two down. Matt Chapman kept the line moving as his RBI single not only pushed the Giants' lead to 5-3, but with a throwing error coming on that play, an additional run was able to score, stretching their lead to 6-3. Throw in another single from Casey Schmitt, and this was a 7-3 game, as that was the end of the road for Rea, who turned out to be his worst outing in over a month. As if two three-run innings weren't enough for the Giants, why not make it three as the Giants continued to tee off on the Cubs pitching in the sixth. With Taylor Rogers on to replace Rea, the Giants quickly had something going as a one-out single from Andrew Knizner started another big inning, as Heliot Ramos followed suit with a hit by pitch to put a pair of runners on. Once again, it was the bat of Devers coming through as he unloaded for a long three-run shot to break things open 10-3, capping off what was a massive five RBI night. The Giants would tack on a pair of late-game homers from Chapman and Ramos for their final two runs as the Cubs' offense went hitless over their final four innings to suffer a 12-3 loss. After pulling within five games of Milwaukee to start this series, the Brewers have once again stretched their lead to 6.5 games, but they fell to Arizona on Wednesday. The Cubs will have their hands full on Thursday as they look to avoid the sweep with Shota Imanaga going up against Giants ace Logan Webb.
