Cubs denied sweep in SF after 'pretty ugly performance'

SAN FRANCISCO -- Midway through a 10-game trip through California that ended miserably Sunday, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer declared the team would find it hard to “two-out-of-three our way to a really good place. We’re going to have to win a bunch of games in a row.”

Manager David Ross was not entirely aligned with that philosophy, calling it “more of a 30,000-foot view that maybe the front office would take. I’m focused on winning every day. If that turns into 15 in a row, great. I don’t go into a series thinking, ‘I’m happy if we take two out of three and I’m not if we don’t sweep.’”

The 28-37 Cubs seem to be more than a few furlongs away from being able to sweep anybody, given their struggle to drive in runs and pitch effectively in relief, both of which played into Sunday’s 13-3 loss to the Giants at Oracle Park.

The Cubs won the series -- always a good thing -- but their shot at a second sweep in 2023 immediately ran headlong into a hot former Cub.

Starter Hayden Wesneski hit his first batter, Thairo Estrada, then allowed the first of a pair of two-run homers to Joc Pederson, who treated North Side fans to 11 of them during his half-season as a Cub in 2021 and demonstrated his ability to commandeer a game and series when he gets rolling.

Pederson, who went 8-for-11 in the three games, also hit a leadoff single to start a three-run rally in the fifth against left-hander Brandon Hughes that turned a 5-2 game into a rout.

The Cubs earned their first series victory in San Francisco in 10 years, but the rough finale prevented them from a .500 trip and a happy flight east. Their 4-6 journey through the Golden State included a four-game split in San Diego, a winless three games in Anaheim and the series triumph in San Francisco.

“I thought we salvaged it well here at the back end, two out of three,” Ross said. “When we play good defense and get good pitching, we’re in games. There’s not a lot of margin for error. Pretty ugly performance pitching today, and we left a lot of guys on base.

“It’s just got to get better, but I love the way the guys responded after getting swept in Anaheim.”

The Cubs were 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position Sunday, well short of what they needed in a game in which their pitching staff surrendered 15 hits and four homers, the two by Pederson and two more by Thairo Estrada (against Jeremiah Estrada and Javier Assad).

Cubs hitters forced rookie pitcher Tristan Beck to throw 62 pitches over the second and third innings, but they scored just once in each.

Both innings ended with strikeouts -- by Nico Hoerner and Patrick Wisdom -- that stranded two runners.

The offense could not even convert in the ninth against 36-year-old Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who allowed the first two batters to reach during his first career pitching appearance before retiring Christopher Morel, Ian Happ and Trey Mancini in order.

The bullpen raised its season ERA to 4.73 and WHIP to 1.41, both third-worst in the league, putting the Cubs in a hole that made a comeback all but impossible.

Wesneski allowed the Giants’ first five runs over three-plus innings and admitted his day went south as soon as he hit Estrada to begin his afternoon.

“I don’t hit guys very often, and I’ve done it the last few outings,” Wesneski said. “I’m a little off, but I’d say more mentally than physically. I just get in my own way.”

He used the two Pederson homers as an example, saying, “I backed myself into a corner in both at-bats, down 1-0. He’s a streaky hitter. I know he’s a good hitter. I’ve seen him play when I was in college and watching him growing up. In the second at-bat, I needed to pitch him more careful and figure out, ‘Hey, this is what Joc is looking for today,’ and try to figure out the game that way.”

The Cubs begin a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the first-place Pirates on Tuesday night, a good time to rediscover the opportunistic hitting and shutdown pitching that marked the first two games of the successful series here.