Fly the T: Cubs stay unbeaten with tie against Giants

Rick Scuteri - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 3 hours ago

SCOTTSDALE - For the first time this Spring, the Chicago Cubs failed to win a game as they have gotten off to a franchise-best 6-0 start to begin Cactus League play. However, the Cubs have yet to lose a game this Spring, as there are such things as a tie during Spring Training.

That is what the fans saw at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday as the Cubs used a three-run eighth inning to climb out of a 4-1 deficit and tie the San Francisco Giants 4-4 to stay unbeaten. This was one of those games that was far from pretty, but at the same time, there was a lot to take away from it, with plenty of storylines as a result.

The biggest takeaway was the outing by Shota Imanaga who finally made his first start of the Spring. Imanaga pitched into the third, which is the longest outing by any Cubs starter this Spring, and struck out six out of a possible eight batters. However, he allowed three runs across those 2 2/3, including a two-run shot, as he has plenty to look forward to heading into his next outing.

Shota Imanaga struck out 6 over 2.2 innings. pic.twitter.com/E4PDdPXNtn
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) February 26, 2025

The home run he allowed came in the bottom of the second inning after Michael Busch gave the Cubs an early 1-0 lead after reaching first base on a bases-loaded error. However, considering the Cubs loaded the bases in the first inning only to come away empty and then seeing the same scenario play out in the second, you had to wonder if that was going to come back and haunt them as that is the Cubs offense of old that everyone gets so frustrated with.

Immediately after falling behind by a run, the Giants jumped on Imanaga with Wilmer Flores ripping a leadoff double down the left field line to set the Giants offense up. One batter later, Casey Schmitt put the Giants in front as he touched up a two-run shot to the right center to make this a 2-1 game. San Francisco added to their lead in the bottom of the third off a wild pitch as the Giants were in control early, 3-1.

Not only did the Cubs waste a pair of chances in the first two innings, but after a pair of singles from Ben Cowles and Nicky Lopez opened up the top of the fourth, the Cubs had an opportunity to get some runs back. Unfortunately for them, the big hit wasn't there, at least not at this point, as Sean Hjelle responded from those two hits to strike out the next three hitters to keep the Giants in front.

San Francisco continued to tack on the runs in the fifth inning as Caleb Kilian got off to an ugly start. Kilian managed to bounce back and allowed just one run in two innings, but after allowing three straight hits to begin his outing, including an RBI double off the bat of Jerar Encarnacion, it was the Giants leading 4-1 with the sixth inning set to begin.

Over the final four innings, pitching was the story for the Cubs. Trevor Richards, Brandon Hughes, and Chris Kachmar got into the game and managed to throw scoreless outings. They walked one and struck out two, and the Cubs registered 12 strikeouts as a team. With the pitching starting to settle in for the Cubs, it was only a matter of time until the offense got rolling, which has been the theme most of the Spring.

That time came in the eighth innings as the Cubs offense not only woke up, but put together another one of those crooked-number innings that has made this team so successful this Spring. All it took was a pair of singles from Dixon Machado and Jonathon Long to wake up the offense as Machado came home to score on the Cristian Hernandez sacrifice fly to pull the Cubs within 4-2.

One batter later, it was one of the newest Cubs coming through with his biggest hit of the Spring as Greg Allen unloaded for a two-run blast, and just like that, this was a 4-4 game. Those would be the game's final runs for the Cubs, as it would come down to their pitching to make sure this game stayed tied.

Tasked with getting the final three outs, Kachmar found himself in an instant jam as a leadoff walk to David Villar put the winning run on first. Villar managed to steal second a few pitches later before advancing to third on the Brett Wisely single, and the Giants were one hit away from winning this game. It's as close as they would get as Kachmar made the pitch he needed to make and got Max Stassi to ground into a game-ending double play as the Cubs and Giants play to a 4-4 draw.

Like most of the Spring, the Cubs registered double-digit hits, finishing the game with 10 hits. Lopez led the way with two hits from the leadoff spot and has been swinging a great bat all Spring. Cowles also continued his great Spring with two hits from the bottom of the order, as those were the multi-hit men for the Cubs.