SAN FRANCISCO -- The final pitch from Cubs lefty Drew Smyly on Monday night was a fastball that sailed high and outside. It was deemed ball four to the Giants’ Wilmer Flores, who dropped his bat and completed the required jog to first base to put the period on another tough loss for the North Siders.

That free pass with the bases loaded in the ninth inning sent the Cubs to a 5-4 walk-off loss at Oracle Park, where an unfortunately familiar formula played out for Chicago. The Cubs had a stellar performance from starter Justin Steele, but the lineup fell short situationally and the pressure proved too much for the relief corps.

“Any inch you give,” Steele said, “teams are gonna take a mile.”

The game of inches keeps slipping away for the Cubs, who dropped to 14-18 in one-run games this season and are now five games below .500 (37-42). The frustrating component for Chicago has been the repeated pattern within the mounting defeats. Specifically, the lack of offensive production with runners in scoring position has created a consistent domino effect.

The Cubs entered Monday with a .573 OPS with runners in scoring position dating back to May 1. In the loss to the Giants, Chicago finished 4-for-15 with RISP and stranded a dozen baserunners. Chicago had two on with one out in the second, and scored zero runs. The Cubs loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, and came away with one run on an infield hit by Michael Busch. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off the sixth with a triple, and was stranded on third.

“There's no question we left runs on the bases, for sure,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We could have had five, six, seven on the board by just moving the ball forward and [we] didn't do it. And we've got to do better at that.

“That was a game that we should have broken open. And that cost us.”

Steele pieced together a gem, logging 7 1/3 innings in which he struck out nine and limited the Giants to just two solo home runs. The lefty is looking more and more like the pitcher who was an All-Star and in the conversation for the National League Cy Young Award last season. In his last six outings, Steele has spun a 1.38 ERA.

As well as Steele has thrown of late, he has zero wins on his ledger this year. Over his brilliant six-start stretch recently, he has an 0-1 record and the Cubs have gone 2-4 as a team. Chicago starters entered Monday with the fourth-lowest ERA (3.63) in the NL, but the issues in the lineup and bullpen have squandered a pile of the rotation’s efforts.

“It's a tough league. They don't hand out wins,” Steele said. “All I can do is continue to pitch well and put the team in the best possible position that I can to win the ballgame. All I can do is continue to show up and do that. If I do my job, I feel good about it.”

Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson called Steele’s effort “incredible” against the Giants, adding another frustrating layer to the loss. Swanson made a pair of highlight-reel diving plays on defense and delivered an RBI double in the fifth, but he also flied out with the bases loaded in the fourth.

“The starters have been awesome,” Swanson said. “We’ve had times to push leads out and haven’t been able to. But at the end of the day, I have a lot of belief in these guys in here.”

The compounding issues have left little margin for error for a Cubs bullpen that has struggled to unlock the right late-inning formula amid multiple players being lost to injury. Last year’s main trio of Mark Leiter Jr., Adbert Alzolay and Julian Merryweather are all on the injured list. Veteran Héctor Neris (17.18 ERA in his last four games) has labored in the closer’s role.

Following Steele, righty Tyson Miller staved off a potential Giants rally in the eighth to preserve a 4-2 lead for the Cubs. Counsell said after the loss that Neris was available, but the manager handed the ball to Colten Brewer to begin the ninth.

San Francisco’s Matt Chapman sent a pitch to shallow center, where Crow-Armstrong made a diving attempt at a ball with a 25 percent catch probability, per Statcast. It nicked his glove and fell in for a double, igniting the Giants’ final push. Two sacrifice flies and a bases-loaded walk later, and the Cubs were dealt another defeat.

“We've just got to show up and win ballgames,” Steele said. “Winning will solve everything. We're one winning streak away. That's kind of how I look at it.”