After blowing a big five run lead in Thursday’s game to the Giants, it was the same story again on Friday. Carlos Villanueva was dominate in his first start at Wrigley Field but the bullpen failed to keep the lead. However, the Cubs offense came up huge in the ninth the give the Cubs a thrilling win.
In his second start this season, Villanueva pitched another great game for the Cubs but was unable to get the victory. With the wind blowing out, Villanueva was able to keep the ball down and keep the Giants off base. In seven and a third innings, he allowed just three hits while striking out seven lowering his ERA to under one.
David DeJesus provided a lot of the Cubs offense today as he went 2-4 with a home run and a double. Starlin Castro gave the Cubs a two run lead in fifth with his first home run of the year. The Cubs offense did produce seven hits on the day but continued to struggle with runners in scoring position again. Anthony Rizzo and Alfonso Soriano were non existent again today combining to go 0-8 with four strikeouts. Wellington Castillo had another two hit ball game, raising his average to .414.
It appeared the Cubs were in line for a win, but as everyone knows well, no lead is safe. With a 2-0 lead in the ninth, Kyuji Fujikawa struggled with his command and gave the Giants life. He almost got out of it with a possible double play ball but Hunter Pence was able to beat the throw to first. Then Brandon Belt lined a double down the right field line to give the Giants a three run lead. But the game was not over yet.
Dioner Navarro came up huge in a pinch hit appearance taking Sergio Romo deep to tie the game at three, his first pinch hit home run of his career. With two outs in the inning, DeJesus lined a ball to center and Pagan was not able to make the diving catch, giving the Cubs another at bat. And that is all the Cubs needed as Castro hit one of the wall in right center to plate DeJesus and win the game 4-3.
Cubs and Giants are back in action again tomorrow at 12:05 on FOX. Should be a good one as Jeff Samardzija will duel against Madison Bumgarner.