{"id":348878,"date":"2026-06-06T01:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348878\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:25:15","slug":"chicago-cubs-lose-18-3-to-the-san-francisco-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348878\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs lose 18-3 to the San Francisco Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sense of cautious optimism filled Wrigley Field on Friday after the Chicago Cubs\u2019 ninth-inning rally<\/a> the night before had snapped an eight-game losing streak at home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They had won by collecting hit after hit \u2014 six total \u2014 with runners in scoring position, a remarkable feat, considering they hit .168 in those situations in their previous 22 games, the second-worst mark in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s one baseball game, but given how we\u2019ve been playing, I think everyone hopes that it kind of relaxes guys a little bit and let\u2019s just go play,\u201d Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before Friday\u2019s series opener against the San Francisco Giants.<\/p>\n

It took four batters for that momentum to begin deflating. Three-and-a-half innings in, and that positivity was completely wiped out. The Giants\u2019 lineup smothered the Cubs\u2019 pitchers, hitting seven home runs and scoring the first 16 runs of the game en route to an 18-3 walloping at Wrigley Field. Friday\u2019s starter, Edward Cabrera, allowed three of the seven long balls and was met with boos from the 39,060 fans at Wrigley Field as he walked off the mound in the fourth inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, personally, it bothers me,\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cI believe I\u2019m a man who loves to compete. I don\u2019t like to lose, but sometimes things happen in the game that are costly. I\u2019m a person who doesn\u2019t like to lose. It\u2019s not in me to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs hoped Thursday\u2019s win would be the start of a turnaround that is needed following an abysmal 5-17 stretch, which came after a 20-3 salvo that included a pair of 10-game winning streaks. Friday was the start of a 12-game stretch against the Giants and Colorado Rockies, the two bottom teams in the National League entering Friday, who were a combined 28 games under .500.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs catcher Carson Kelly, working in a role as a relief pitcher, watches the flight of a solo home hit by San Francisco Giants left fielder Casey Schmitt in the ninth inning of a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 5, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t struggle forever, and we need to get back to playing well,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cYes, I think that\u2019s how you look at the schedule a little bit, but it\u2019s really about us and how we\u2019re playing, and I know if we\u2019re playing well, any part of the schedule is doable. We haven\u2019t been playing well and that has to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Couple the favorable schedule with the return of Cabrera<\/a> \u2014 he was activated on Friday as right-hander Tyler Ferguson was optioned to Triple-A Iowa \u2014 and a potential comeback for opening day starter Matthew Boyd (left meniscus) in the coming days, and things were primed for the Cubs to recapture their early-season form. Instead, they fell flat in a major way.<\/p>\n

It still could be a spark for the Cubs, but Friday\u2019s loss was emblematic of what has plagued them since their last 10-game winning streak was snapped on May 10.<\/p>\n

Cubs\u2019 starting pitchers have a 6.35 ERA since then, the second-worst mark in the majors in that time. Cabrera\u2019s struggles, which pestered him before a blister landed him on the injured list, continued Friday and threw more question marks into the rotation.<\/p>\n

Willy Adames hit a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the first inning on a 100 mph four-seam fastball to stake the Giants to a quick lead. The wheels completely fell off for Cabrera in the fourth inning. The 28-year-old allowed a grand slam to Matt Chapman, followed by a two-run blast to Casey Schmitt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stuff, I thought, was probably ticked up from kind of where we left it before going on the injured list,\u201d Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Cabrera. \u201cHe just made some bad pitches, and they put \u2019em in the seats, essentially.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was the swing-and-miss, which was good, but too many pitches in bad spots at the wrong time, for sure, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago baseball report: Ian Happ\u2019s \u2018special\u2019 milestone \u2014 and White Sox options for the No. 1 pick<\/a><\/p>\n

Cabrera finished the outing by allowing eight runs on eight hits in 3 2\/3 innings. Since pitching 11 2\/3 scoreless innings in his first two starts, Cabrera has allowed a run in each of his last nine starts, posting a 6.26 ERA. His 11 home runs allowed this season are tied for the 13th-most among pitchers. His rotation mates Jameson Taillon (20) and Shota Imanaga (17) have given up the most in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we have one of the best, if not the best, defense in the league, but we can\u2019t catch balls over the fence,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cYou have to have the ball in play to be able to have our defense make a difference. The home run ball \u2014 teams are scoring quickly against us in those situations, and that makes it really difficult, especially when we\u2019re also not slugging in the same way as we just talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offense scored only after the game was well in hand, and they finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. The lineup on Friday was a shell of the ninth-inning offense that looked pesky and deep the night prior.<\/p>\n

Hoyer knows that for the Cubs to create more nights like Thursday, improvements must come from the roster that\u2019s in the Wrigley Field clubhouse. Trade chatter is percolating, but the deadline is two months away, and the roster, especially the offense, must perform better than it has.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trade deadline is kind of the furthest thing from my mind right now, given how we played,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cI think we just have to play better. That\u2019s the priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe backbone of this team is our position players. They have to play well for us to be a good team. That\u2019s not going to change at the deadline. I think obviously we\u2019ll be looking at pitching at that point. But sitting here talking about the deadline, given how we\u2019ve played, seems the wrong thing to talk about. We have to play better, we have to put ourselves in position to do that, and I think we will. I think we\u2019ll play much better going forward, but certainly it\u2019s been a tough stretch for us, and that\u2019s obviously put us in a different position than we\u2019d hope to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sense of cautious optimism filled Wrigley Field on Friday after the Chicago Cubs\u2019 ninth-inning rally the night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[123056,2845,111602,48903,122595,5443,101,4820,103,102,104,106,105,108655],"class_list":["post-348878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-carson-kelly","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-edward-cabrera","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-wrigley-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}