CHICAGO -- The Giants were one out away from winning four games in a row for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon. But those hopes were dashed by Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The All-Star center fielder launched a pair of game-tying home runs, including a two-out blast off Keaton Winn in the bottom of the ninth, to set the stage for the Giants’ 3-2 walk-off loss to the Cubs in 10 innings at Wrigley Field.
The Giants took a 2-1 lead on Matt Chapman’s sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, but they couldn’t close it out after Winn fell just shy of completing his second five-out save of the road trip. The 28-year-old right-hander misplaced a first-pitch splitter to Crow-Armstrong, who drove it out to right field to send the game into extra innings.
“We got where we wanted to get,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Their best player did what he did. From that point on, you’re chasing your tail a little bit on the road.”
Vitello sent Jonah Cox (Giants' No. 24 prospect) to pinch-run for designated hitter Bryce Eldridge in the top of the ninth and then kept the speedy rookie in to play center field in the bottom of the ninth, which meant subbing out starting left fielder Casey Schmitt. That gave the Giants their strongest defensive alignment behind Winn in the bottom of the ninth, but it also left them without their most productive hitter in the top of the 10th, when they were unable to score their automatic runner from second.
Victor Bericoto came off the bench to pinch-hit for Drew Gilbert to lead off the inning, but he struck out looking on three pitches against Cubs lefty Ryan Rolison. Buddy Kennedy -- who ended up taking Schmitt’s spot in the batting order -- followed with a walk, but Rolison subsequently struck out Rafael Devers looking and coaxed a forceout from Luis Arraez to end the inning.
The Cubs went on to win the game in the bottom of the 10th on Michael Busch’s single to right field, which was misplayed by Bericoto, who overran the ball and allowed Dansby Swanson to score the decisive run from second.
“I don’t think you’re ever OK with a loss ... but we’re playing good ball,” Vitello said. “We played good today. The biggest thing is they absolutely battled their [butts] off.”
San Francisco erupted for 18 runs in a series-opening rout on Friday, but the club had a much harder time solving Cubs right-hander Ben Brown, who allowed only one hit over 5 1/3 innings.
Still, the Giants quickly broke through after Chicago manager Craig Counsell decided to pull Brown at 87 pitches and bring in reliever Caleb Thielbar to face Devers. Devers won the left-on-left matchup by mashing a 93.8 mph four-seam fastball out to right field for his eighth home run of the year, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead.
San Francisco starter Landen Roupp couldn’t deliver a shutdown inning, though, as he surrendered a leadoff blast to Crow-Armstrong that tied the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Roupp then issued a free pass to former Giant Michael Conforto before striking out Busch and Alex Bregman to leave a runner on with two outs for right-hander Caleb Kilian.
Kilian, who spent his first three big league seasons with the Cubs, faced more trouble after walking Ian Happ and giving up a single to Seiya Suzuki. Shortstop Willy Adames made a diving stop on Suzuki’s 96.4 mph shot to the left side to save a run, but he had no chance at throwing out the Cubs’ right fielder, loading the bases for Chicago. Still, Kilian managed to induce a flyout from Nico Hoerner to escape the jam and keep the game tied.
Roupp departed after giving up one run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings, which was a step forward from his last start against the Brewers on Monday, when he was tagged for a career-high eight runs over four innings.
“I felt good today,” Roupp said. “I think today was a step in the right direction for me. Obviously, I’ve got to cut down on the walks. ... Overall, I think I made a lot of good pitches. Really, the one mistake all day was the fastball to PCA.”
Jung Hoo Lee finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games. He’s batting .500 (27-for-54) over that span, which is the longest active run in the Majors, and also added his first stolen base of the year in the seventh.