Chicago dominated San Francisco 5-1 in Friday night’s series opener, with Michael Busch launching a three-run blast into the bay while Javier Assad teamed with two relief pitchers to limit the Giants to just four hits.
The contest remained scoreless through three frames as Assad (4-1) and Giants starter Landen Roupp (5-7) traded zeros early on. Chicago broke through in the fourth inning, taking a 2-0 advantage on Seiya Suzuki’s RBI double followed by Nico Hoerner’s sacrifice fly.
Busch delivered the decisive blow one inning later, connecting for his eighth home run of the year after Roupp was removed with two runners aboard and two outs following Alex Bregman’s double. Facing left-handed reliever Erik Miller in a southpaw matchup, Busch watched two sliders before crushing the third pitch over the towering right-field barrier for a commanding 5-0 cushion.
Assad, making just his second appearance since returning from a May demotion to Triple-A Iowa, surrendered a leadoff single to Luis Arraez in the opening frame and base hits to Bryce Eldridge in both the fourth and sixth innings before departing after 85 pitches through six frames. The right-hander issued one walk while recording five strikeouts.
Hoby Milner worked a perfect seventh inning, and Trent Thornton handled the first four batters he encountered across the eighth and ninth before allowing Eldridge’s solo shot – his fifth of the campaign – that prevented the complete shutout.
Suzuki collected two doubles for Chicago, which had dropped two of three games when hosting San Francisco the previous week. The Cubs recorded six hits total, with five going for extra bases including four two-baggers.
Roupp was tagged for four earned runs on four hits across 4 2/3 innings of work. He issued two free passes and fanned five batters.
Eldridge, recently moved up to the second spot in the lineup following a hot stretch that featured a walk-off grand slam Wednesday versus Washington, accounted for three of San Francisco’s four hits. The performance marked his eighth multi-hit effort this season.
The defeat extended San Francisco’s recent home struggles, as they’ve now lost six of their past seven contests at their ballpark.
