Eldridge homers in third straight game as SF Giants drop series opener to Cubs

SAN FRANCISCO — For a second straight game, Bryce Eldridge homered in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Giants trailing. This time, however, the Giants would not be celebrating a victory.

Eldridge homered for a third straight game, the latest being his fifth of the season, but San Francisco lost 5-0 to the Chicago Cubs on Friday evening at Oracle Park.

Landen Roupp was sharp to begin his night, striking out the first four batters he faced, but the right-hander ended his outing having allowed four earned runs over 4 2/3 innings.

Roupp was the Giants’ (28-42) best pitcher to start the season, ending April with a 2.55 ERA over his first six starts. Over his last eight starts, by contrast, Roupp has a 5.77 ERA over 39 innings.

The Cubs’ Javier Assad, by contrast, shut down the Giants’ offense for a second straight outing, tossing six scoreless innings with five strikeouts to one walk. This outing comes after Assad pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings of emergency long relief on Sunday Night Baseball when starter Jameson Taillon exited after one hitter due to injury.

Right fielder Jung Hoo Lee saw his 18-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the majors entering play, come to an end after going hitless in three at-bats. Lee nearly snuck a single into right field in the bottom of the fourth, but second baseman Nico Hoerner made a diving stop of Lee’s grounder to rob him of a hit.

The loudest swing of the night belonged to the Cubs’ Michael Busch, who sent a three-run shot off lefty Erik Miller into McCovey Cove. Busch’s blast was the 176th overall Splash Hit in Oracle Park history, as well as the 68th by an opponent and fourth by a Cub.

Up next

Rookie right-hander Trevor McDonald (2-3, 4.15 ERA) will face the Cubs for the second time this week after tossing five innings of one-run ball against them on Sunday. McDonald will go up against Chicago’s Ben Brown (2-2, 1.74 ERA), who pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings when he faced the Giants last Saturday.