CHICAGO—Cody Bellinger, Ian Happ, and Christopher Morel each had an RBI single in a three-run eighth inning that gave the Chicago Cubs a 5–2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
Michael Busch led off the eighth against reliever Tyler Rogers (0–2) with a double off the wall in right-center field, his second hit of the game. Bellinger followed by bouncing his second hit barely through the left side of the infield to break a 2–2 tie.
After Seiya Suzuki singled, Happ lined his second hit of the night down the right-field line to make it 4–2. Morel pinch hit and added a ground-ball RBI single to cap the rally.
“Michael Busch’s double was huge just to get it started and make it a pressure inning,“ Chicago Manager Craig Counsell said. ”And we had the right guys in the middle of the order coming up.
“And then we just but the ball in play and, you know, it helped us tonight. Just put the ball in play and find some holes.”
Dansby Swanson hit an opposite-field, two-run home run for the Cubs, who won for just the fourth time in their past 12 games. The right-handed hitting shortstop tagged Giants ace Logan Webb for his seventh home run, lofting it to right-center with help from a steady wind blowing out.
“Good things happen when I’m able to hit the ball hard the other way” Swanson said, “and obviously tonight was a good sign of that.”
Tyson Miller (2–0) got four outs in relief of Chicago starter Justin Steele for the win. Keegan Thompson struck out the side in the ninth for his first save.
Curt Casali had two hits and two RBIs for the Giants, who announced the death of Hall of Famer Willie Mays during the game. The legendary outfielder played 22 seasons with the team, first in New York and then when the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958.
The Wrigley Field crowd of 36,292 stood in a salute to Mays when the death of the 93-year-old was announced on the left-field video board during the sixth inning.
Giants Manager Bob Melvin said he learned of Mays’ death right before the start of the game. Then most of his players became aware once the contest started.
“It’s heavy hearts for not only the Bay Area and New York, where he started, but the baseball world,” Melvin said. “This is one of the true icons of the game.”
The 62-year-old Melvin, from Palo Alto, south of San Francisco, said he grew up watching Mays play at Candlestick Park.
“I loved baseball because of Willie Mays,” Melvin said. “It meant that much.”
Wrigley Field fans observe a moment of silence for Hall of Famer Willie Mays during the Giants-Cubs game in Chicago on June 18, 2024. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo)
Webb allowed two runs and six hits over seven innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked one while throwing 101 pitches before being relieved by Rogers.
“He gives us seven innings,” Melvin said. “It’s one ball in the air the wind got a little bit. Other than that, it’s two really good pitchers with basically the same lines across the board.”
Steele was sharp in his 10th start of the season, allowing two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. The left-hander struck out eight and walked two in a fourth straight solid outing. He left with the score tied 2–2 after 96 pitches on a warm evening and failed to earn his first win.
Swanson put Chicago ahead 2–0 in the second with a drive that just reached the right-center bleachers.
Steele sailed through four innings, retiring 12 of 14 hitters and allowing only two singles.
The Giants tied it 2–2 in the fifth when Steele walked Jorge Soler and Mike Yastrzemski, and Casali drove in both runners with a double to the left-center gap.
Trainer’s Room
Giants: Left-hander Blake Snell, on the 15-day injured list since June 3 because of a groin strain, threw a bullpen session in San Francisco on Tuesday. “We’ll see how he comes in tomorrow and make a determination after that,” Melvin said. Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, is 0–3 with a 9.51 earned-run average in six starts with San Francisco since signing a two-year, $62 million contract late in spring training.Cubs: Outfielder Mike Tauchman was placed on the 10-day injured list with a groin strain and infielder Miles Mastrobuoni was called up from Triple-A Iowa. Tauchman left the Cubs’ 7–6 loss to the Giants on Monday after legging out a single in the third inning. On Tuesday, Counsell said Tauchman would “probably need four weeks to heal.”
Up Next
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (0–4, 8.20) is set to start for the Cubs in Wednesday’s series finale. The Giants had not named a starter.By Matt Carlson
