Cubs club 3 HRs, but drop finale in 13th

SAN FRANCISCO -- With Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber in the lineup together for the first time since June 22, the Cubs offense flashed its lofty potential but lacked timely hitting in a 5-4, 13-inning loss on Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park.
After recording 10 hits combined in the first two games of the series, the Cubs had 11 base knocks in the series finale. Every starter reached base.
But runs were not as easy to come by as baserunners. The Cubs went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranded 14 men on base and struck out 16 times. All four of the Cubs' runs came via the long ball. Bryant made his highly anticipated return to the lineup with a two-run shot in the fifth inning, which was complemented by solo homers from Jason Heyward in the third and Javier Báez in the seventh. The latter sent the game to extras.

"We came out of our approach," manager Joe Maddon said. "There weren't as many balls to the opposite side, we struck out 16 times today -- these are things we have not been doing. And they didn't necessarily have a bunch of strikeout pitchers going against us today, either. I just thought we got out of our approach."
Starter Mike Montgomery wasn't his sharpest in his five-inning outing, but he battled to keep the Cubs in the game. The lefty allowed four runs in the first before settling in and pitching four scoreless frames.
"Today, I actually felt pretty good," Montgomery said. "Really, outside of the first batter of the game, they hit a couple balls, but I never really felt like I made that many mistakes."

Montgomery added: "I thought I made some good pitches. I fell behind guys more than I like to. I really didn't throw my curveball for strikes enough. I thought, 'After that first inning just keep it close.'"
The bullpen did its best to pick up Montgomery. Randy Rosario, Pedro Strop, Justin Wilson, Luke Farrell, Brandon Morrow and James Norwood combined to pitch seven scoreless innings before the Giants got to Norwood in the 13th. Buster Posey abruptly ended the rookie's Major League debut with a walk-off single that hit the wall in right field.

The loss snapped the Cubs' three-series win streak and dropped them to two games back of the Brewers in the National League Central.
"We had opportunities," Maddon said. "We've done this way too many times this year. Part of our record is a result of not being able to score in the latter part of games and losing some one-run games. We just go away for a bit. We can't let that happen."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
With two outs in the first inning, Brandon Crawford reached on a grounder up the middle that kicked off Montgomery's glove. Ruled a hit, Crawford would come around to score one batter later on Gorkys Hernández's two-run double. The Giants scored three additional runs after the comebacker.

"I made an error on a routine play back to me," Montgomery said. "It was a big difference in this game. I feel like I field that ball nine out of 10 times -- it just hit off my glove. It's frustrating when something small -- a ground ball back to you -- and you boot it off your glove, costs you three extra runs."
NORWOOD MAKES DEBUT
How about making your Major League debut in the bottom of the 12th inning? Norwood,24, recorded two strikeouts in a scoreless frame before the Giants got to him in the 13th.

"It was amazing," Norwood said. "It felt unbelievable. It's what you dream of growing up."
"The beautiful thing about Norwood is how he handled it," Maddon said. "He just had some great stuff. I'm sure he was getting fatigued there by the end of it, but that's something to look forward to right there."
SOUND SMART
Heyward's sixth home run of the season came on a first-pitch slider from Johnny Cueto. Heyward's past three home runs have come on the first pitch.

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Schwarber was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and tasked with facing Will Smith in the ninth inning. Smith had held lefties to a .171/.190/.220 slash line this season entering Wednesday. After fouling off a pitch on a 2-2 count, Schwarber laid a perfect bunt down the third-base line for a two-out single.

HE SAID IT
"He's just struggling right now. Specifically, mechanically, you'd have to talk to him. Right now, it's probably a confidence issue as much as anything. Nothing injury-wise." -- Maddon, on Rizzo, who is 0-for his past-19
"Norwood was it. It was Rizzo, it was Chatwood playing the field, it was all kinds of stuff." -- Maddon, when asked who would have pitched if the game had continued into the 14th inning
UP NEXT
The Cubs will turn to Tyler Chatwood in the series opener on Friday. The right-hander has been hit hard in his past two outings, giving up seven earned runs in each start. Chatwood is looking to go six innings for the first time since April 29. He'll hope to do so at Petco Park, where he's 4-1 lifetime with a 2.84 ERA. The Padres will counter with a former Cub, left-hander Clayton Richard. First pitch is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. CT.