SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants were one out away from their first four-game winning streak of the 2026 MLB season, but Pete Crow-Armstrong spoiled their plans.
The Chicago Cubs center fielder tied Saturday’s game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and the Giants went on to lose 3-2 in the bottom of the 10th. Michael Busch singled to right and Dansby Swanson raced home from second as the ball scooted past rookie Victor Bericoto. With the loss, the Giants dropped to 4-5 on the road trip.
For most of the day, the Giants had nothing going against Ben Brown, who has been Chicago’s best starter. But they immediately got going when Brown was removed after his 87th pitch. Rafael Devers greeted reliever Caleb Thielbar with a rocket into the bleachers in right, but Pete Crow-Armstrong answered right back with his own solo shot.
The Cubs loaded the bases in that inning but didn’t score. They did it again in the seventh, but Erik Miller struck out Alex Bregman with a buried slider. That allowed the Giants to again take the lead.
Jung Hoo Lee singled with one out in the top of the ninth and went to third on Bryce Eldridge’s hard single to right. Matt Chapman followed with a fly ball to center that was deep enough to bring Lee across for the go-ahead run on a day when the flags were blowing in at Wrigley Field and runs were hard to come by.
Tony Vitello tried to get five outs from Winn, his current closer, and it was going well until Crow-Armstrong launched a splitter out to right to send the game to extras.
Back To Normal
Landen Roupp needed 23 pitches to get through the first inning, but settled in and was still out there in the sixth. After giving up the solo homer, he let the go-ahead runner get to second but then did some of his best work.
Roupp threw a nasty 3-2 changeup below the zone to strike out Michael Busch, the No. 3 hitter, and then struck out Bregman on a curveball. The strikeouts were his fourth and fifth of his day.
In 13 starts this season, Roupp has allowed fewer than two earned runs seven times. Saturday’s strong outing got his ERA back to an even 4.00 and FIP to 3.02.
Still Streaking
Lee extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single to right in the seventh inning. It’s the longest current streak in Major League Baseball.
Lee has 27 hits over the 14 games, raising his average from .265 to .324 and putting himself in position to possibly compete for a batting title. The outfielder is currently fourth in the NL, behind Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh, Miami’s Otto Lopez and teammate Luis Arraez, who is trying to win his fourth batting title. The Giants haven’t won one since 2012, when Buster Posey did it en route to his only MVP award.
Wrigley Return
It’s been nearly five years since the Giants sent Caleb Kilian and Alexander Canario to Chicago for Kris Bryant in one of the biggest moves of the Farhan Zaidi Era. Kilian made just eight appearances for the Cubs over three seasons, but he got to take the mound against his former teammates on Saturday.
Kilian replaced Roupp with the go-ahead run on second in the sixth inning and gave up an infield single before getting out of the jam. He came back out for the seventh and retired the two batters he faced. Kilian had a brutal start to the trip in Colorado, but he has responded with four straight scoreless appearances.
