The last time the Giants hit at least three home runs in a game was June 19 — 66 games ago. It was so long ago, David Villar had one of them.
Snapping out of their offensive funk still wasn’t enough to beat the Cubs. The Giants finally scored some runs, and they still lost.
After getting shut out for two straight games, the Giants rang up eight runs on 12 hits, including homers from LaMonte Wade Jr., J.D. Davis, Mike Yastrzesmki and Wilmer Flores. But a brutal six-run inning that featured poor fielding and two Chicago homers wrecked San Francisco.
The 11-8 loss extends the Giants’ losing streak to five. San Francisco (70-69) remains winless in a September in which its playoff odds have roughly halved.
The Giants hadn’t been blanked in consecutive games all year before Sunday and Monday. The 18-straight scoreless innings inspired a meeting between team leaders Wilmer Flores and Mike Yastrzemski with Gabe Kapler, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
It continued a brutal offensive slump since July 1 and led Kapler to drop perhaps his most pointed quote of the season.
“We have to be more aggressive. We have to have, and forgive my French, kind of a f— it mentality,” Kapler said, “And what that means is we’re walking up to the plate and we’re going to be on the offensive. We’re going to be the ones who are forcing the action, and right now, we’re a little defensive at the plate, and it’s hurting us.”
Wade apparently got the message. The first baseman smacked the first pitch of the game — an 88 mph Kyle Hendricks fastball — for a leadoff home run. Just like that, the Giants’ scoreless drought was over.
Wade’s solo shot had an exit velocity of 107.5 mph and traveled 412 feet. It was one of the most flush balls Wade has hit in weeks; he hadn’t hit an extra base hit since Aug. 21. If the hit is a sign that Wade’s legs are under him as they are when he’s fully healthy, that could be a major development for a lineup desperate for power.
So too, would a surge from Mike Yastrzesmki, who went the other way for a solo homer off Hendricks in the third. Yastrzemski benefitted from some friendly Chicago wind; Wrigley Field is the only park that wouldn’t have kept the ball in. But Yastrzemski’s swing was perfect, as he went the other way against a changeup located on theo outside of the zone.
Wade and Yastrzesmki’s homers sandwiched an RBI flare from Wade Meckler, who also made an inning-ending grab in center field.
While three runs were a godsend for a team that didn’t send a single runner into scoring position on Labor Day, the Cubs more than matched them in the bottom of the third.
By chasing Scott Alexander and then giving Jakob Junis trouble, Chicago dropped four runs in the third to take a lead. Yan Gomes’ double with the bases loaded after Junis walked in a run was the biggest knock of the rally.
Hendricks, who shut out the Giants for eight innings earlier this year, retired six straight Giants in the fourth and fifth innings. But he didn’t cruise and left after 5.2 innings pitched.
That’s because Joc Pederson and J.D. Davis — two key veterans who need to step up for the Giants — delivered huge hits in the sixth. Pederson doubled home Wilmer Flores, then scored on Davis’ first home run since Aug. 7.
Davis’ homer came on Hayden Wesneski’s second pitch in relief of Hendricks, who left after only 83 pitches. He’d gone 85 plate appearances without going yard, but is one of several veterans the Giants need to step up.
It has seemed like Davis had been struggling to catch up to fastballs recently, so it’s noteworthy that he turned on a 95.8 mph heater.
Yet the Giants bullpen that has been so effective at protecting leads let another one slip away. Tyler Rogers surrendered a game-tying shot to Seiya Suzuki, who homered and doubled in the series opener.
Then fielding lapses let the game spiral out of San Francisco’s control.
Pederson, thrust too frequently into the outfield recently to help optimize the order for offense, lost a routine fly ball in the swirling wind. After an infield single, Casey Schmitt bounced a throw to Patrick Bailey at home for an error.
Then Christopher Morel, Chicago’s all-or-nothing slugger, destroyed a Luke Jackson curveball for a three-run homer. The Giants’ 6-4 lead turned into a 10-6 deficit.
If Pederson fielded the fly ball cleanly instead of committing the folly, the Giants would’ve had two outs and nobody on. Instead, Jackson served up a back-breaker to Morel.
Morel emphatically tossed his bat toward his dugout as the ball soared through the night. Flores crushed his 21st homer to lead off the ninth, but they couldn’t rally further.
Most often in the second half, the Giants haven’t hit enough to make mistakes. Tuesday, they made too many mistakes to outhit.