SAN FRANCISCO -- Cubs manager David Ross was feeling nostalgic as he walked through the tunnel inside Oracle Park on Thursday afternoon. It was his first trip back to the ballpark in five years.

That last trip was during the 2016 National League Division Series, which was the Cubs' first step toward ending their famous World Series drought. As he headed to the visitors' clubhouse, Ross said he spotted where he took pictures with his family.

"There was a lot of memories flowing walking the hallways," Ross said in the hours before Thursday's 7-2 loss to the Giants.

The Cubs would like to create similar memories this coming fall, but there is still a lot to sort out for a club that went 11-15 in April, followed by a 21-9 run through May and June’s first few days. Thursday marked the first step in an important road trip within an intimidating month.

Without the raucous Wrigley Field crowd behind them -- and playing on the West Coast for the first time since September 2019 -- the red-hot Cubs flinched. Specifically, a pitching staff that spun a 2.52 ERA in May could not stop the NL West-leading Giants from pulling away.

The volume of recent victories made it a little easier to turn the page.

"It's a very professional team," Cubs starter Zach Davies said. "When things are going bad, you try and get out of it as quick as possible, but you don't stress about it. You don't panic."

Davies lasted just 4 1/3 innings, in which he scattered eight hits and wound up with four earned runs on his line. Two of those runs came off a three-run homer that lefty Rex Brothers surrendered on a 3-0 count to Brandon Crawford in the fifth.

Between Brothers and righty Dillon Maples, the Cubs' relief corps was charged with three runs. In May, the bullpen turned in a 1.59 ERA and, during one pristine stretch, did not allow an earned run for 38 1/3 consecutive innings.

Entering Thursday, the bullpen's rate of 0.67 homers allowed per nine innings was the third-best mark in the Majors.

"They've been doing their job," Davies said. "That bullpen has done an incredible job. At the same time, the starters, we're trying to step forward and we're trying to carry our own weight and keep this team on a roll."

Asked about the tough June schedule -- a ledger that includes 18 road games and a slate full of contending clubs -- Davies shrugged it off. He reminded that a road-heavy schedule now just means more home games in stretches later this summer.

And while that is true, there is no denying the potential importance of the weeks at hand. After the current series, the Cubs head to San Diego, with a date with the rival Cardinals the following weekend.

It is a chance for the Cubs to keep proving that they can stick in the October conversation. Ross insists that belief already existed within Chicago's clubhouse.

"I think it's nice to continue to prove to yourself that what you believe is true," Ross said, "that we have a good team that's capable of winning baseball games and beating anybody. But we have to go out and prove it nightly. That doesn't change.

"Expectations, I think, are usually outside -- created from the outside. I think one thing we try to do -- like I've said over and over again -- is come in here and play a good brand of baseball nightly."

That means continuing to have the rotation build on its solid May (3.18 ERA) and avoiding moments like Giants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani delivering an RBI double off Davies in the fourth. It means cleaning up the handful of defensive miscues that also hindered the Cubs in the loss.

It means continuing to have the stars step up like Joc Pederson did in the third. He launched a two-run homer into McCovey Cove and punctuated the moment with a bat flip in front of the Cubs' dugout.

And it means finding unexpected sparks, as has been the case with the likes of Matt Duffy, Patrick Wisdom, Keegan Thompson, Tommy Nance and others this season.

"It's great to see," said Kris Bryant. "I don't necessarily know if we've had good depth in the past or not. I haven't necessarily paid attention to it. But this year I certainly am, because some guys have been called up and are really stepping up."

If that continues, then games like Thursday are easy to toss out. And perhaps Chicago will keep surprising as the summer slate rolls on.

"We're two months in," Ross reminded. "We had a good month, which is great. I'm super excited about that. We still have a lot of challenges ahead of us, and have a long season and a long way to go."