It was a tale of two aces as the Giants began a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday.
But in the end, Logan Webb lost the pitching duel to Justin Steele in the 5-0 loss in San Francisco.
Webb entered the Labor Day game with 3.14 runs per nine innings of support from the Giants’ lineup this season, the worst in MLB, and that trend continued Monday.
The Giants only suffered two hits in the loss, making Webb’s rare errors on the day all the more consequential.
The right-hander had down Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki to his last pitch in the bottom of the second inning, but couldn’t get him out. Suzuki hit a 432-foot home run over the center field wall to make it 1-1 for Chicago. 0 lead wouldn’t give it up.
And with two strikeouts again in the seventh, Suzuki singled out Webb with a one-out RBI double. Suzuki then scored on a Yan Gomes single two batters later, giving Chicago a 3-0 lead and ending Webb’s day.
The Cubs were able to score two more runs after Tristan Beck came on to replace Webb. Dansby Swanson doubled in the bottom of the eighth to lead Mike Tauchman to score, and then Cody Bellinger scored on a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Webb was phenomenal in six innings on Monday, aside from the home run. But after his struggles in the seventh inning, Webb ended his outing having given up five hits over 6 2/3 while striking out four and walking just one.
Unfortunately for San Francisco, Steele was near perfect and was at his best on Monday. The Cubs’ southpaw struck out a career-high 12 Giants in eight innings and allowed just two hits – a single in the second inning off the bat of Casey Schmitt and another off Paul DeJong in the eighth inning.
The Giants’ latest loss comes at a time when not many can afford them. They entered Monday in a four-way tie for the third and final NL wild-card spot, with Chicago holding strong at No. 2. After Monday’s loss, the Giants are now 0.5 games out of third place.
San Francisco will look to get back on track Tuesday as its series against the Cubs continues.
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