Five-run ninth leads Giants past Cubs

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 6 hours ago

MESA—In a matchup of the top two teams in the Cactus League, the Chicago Cubs squared off against the San Francisco Giants Sunday at Sloan Park. Despite the Cubs' unbeaten start to open Spring, the team has come down to earth over the past week, which has allowed teams like the Giants to move closer to catching them in the standings.

The Cubs dominated throughout the game, holding a 6-3 lead entering the late innings. That was when things began to unravel quickly, as Brandon Hughes and Cayne Ueckert were lit up for five runs in the ninth, which was all the Giants needed to pick up an 8-6 win over the Cubs.

As painful as this loss was for the Cubs, none of these games coun't so you can't look into this game too much. What you can look into is some of the individual standouts, with Jameson Taillon coming to mind. Making just his second start of the Spring, Taillon looked sharp as he pitched four innings and was charged with two runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out four, which is all you can ask for from the right-hander.

Taillon faced off with Landen Roupp, who entered the game as one of the best pitchers in the Cactus League with an ERA of 0.00. That is no longer the case, as Roupp was hit hard across his 3 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits. The first of those runs came in the first when Ian Happ opened the game with a leadoff double before racing home on a seeing-eye infield single from Michael Busch.

San Francisco managed to tie things up in the top half of the second on a Casey Schmitt homer as both runs Taillon allowed came off solo shots. Immediately following that homer, the Cubs offense continued to go to work as Roupp was searching for answers. This time, it was a one-out single from Pete Crow-Armstrong getting things started as he would reach third on the Carson Kelly double.

One pitch later, it was Jon Berti cashing in with another double as the Cubs retook the lead 3-1. Chicago continued to have their way with Roupp in the bottom of the third as Kyle Tucker finally picked up his first hit of the Spring with this one leaving the yard to push the Cubs lead to 4-1. The long ball played a massive role for both teams on the afternoon as LaMonte Wade Jr answered the Tucker homer with one of his own in the top of the fourth to pull the Giants within 4-2.

With Roupp still on the bump in the fourth, the Cubs offense continued to hit him well as Kelly delivered a one-out single before advancing to second on the two-out Reece McGuire hit-by pitch. One batter later, Seiya Suzuki came through with his first hit of the day as he cashed in for an RBI single to push the Cubs lead to 5-2.

With Taillon out of the game after four and being lifted for Eli Morgan, you started to see a sense of relief for the Giants offense and after a pair of doubles from Christian Koss and Tyler Fitzgerald, San Francisco added another run to make this a 5-3 game. That would be the Giants final run until the late innings as the Cubs bullpen got on quite a roll as Caleb Thielbar and Brad Keller were dominant in three innings of relief.

When you look at the Cubs Spring stats, Busch and Gage Workman have been the teams best hitters since day one. With Busch leading off the bottom of the sixth with a single before coming home on another Workman single, the trend not only continued, but the Cubs extended their lead to 6-3. Workman is making it very hard for the Cubs to not add him to their roster as he continues to impress every chance he gets.

While the 6-3 lead was good, it never felt safe, and with the Cubs not scoring another run the rest of the way, the pressure solely fell on the pitching staff. For the most part, the pitching took that challenge head-on, keeping the Giants off the board through eight to maintain their three-run lead. That included a bases-loaded jam that Thielbar had to pitch around in the sixth as he pitched himself into and out of trouble.

Once the ninth inning began, things started to go south and they went South in a hurry. All it took was a leadoff Aeverson Artega homer to get the offense started as the Giants pulled within 6-4. On the verge of holding the Giants to four runs, Hughes didn't help himself as he hit a batter and walked a batter to put two runners on with two outs.

The Giants kept the line moving with an Adrian Sugastey single, and just like that, the Giants were within 6-5. That was the end of the day for Hughes as Ueckert replaced him. Talk about a rude welcome for Ueckert; Sabin Ceballos greeted Ueckert with a massive three-run shot that not only capped off a five-run inning with the Giants in front 8-6 but also proved to be the game-winning hit as the Cubs went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

Loss or not, the Cubs continue to hit the ball well offensively as they pounded out 13 hits in the loss. Busch Workman and Kelly all delivered two hits, with Berti leading the way with two RBIs.