SF Giants reliever Keaton Winn, in key rematch, delivers in win

CHICAGO — And Sunday, we got a do-over.

One day earlier, with the San Francisco Giants up a run, Keaton Winn gave up a two-out, game-tying homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong in the ninth. Sunday, with two on and two outs in the ninth inning of a tie game, Winn faced PCA again, and this time, got him to ground out to first.

In the 10th, another re-run with a different twist: Jonah Cox again pinch-ran for designated hitter Bryce Eldridge, as the ghost runner, and Matt Chapman banged a single to center to score the fleet rookie — the winning run, as San Francisco beat the Cubs 2-1 in 10 innings.

“We needed this one, needed to be able to find a way to get it done,” Chapman said. “There was some crazy back and forth, and our bullpen was able to come in and shut it down.”

In the bottom of the 10th, Crow-Armstrong, the placed runner, stole third with one out but Giants reliever Dylan Smith got Michael Busch to pop up, and Alex Bregman, too. Smith, called up Tuesday, recorded his first career save.

“You can’t say enough about the way Smitty came in there and threw at the end,” manager Tony Vitello said.

Vitello termed the Giants’ closer situation, or at least the mix of back-end options, “organized chaos,” but he had zero qualms about having Winn face Crow-Armstrong again. 

“He had talked about making adjustments from yesterday. I’ll be danged if it doesn’t come up where the game’s on the line, and those two go at it,” Vitello said. “That’s what you tune in for is moments like that, and he did a tremendous job.”

Asked whether he relished getting another opportunity, Winn said, “Yeah, I loved it, I was actually looking forward to it.”

He was careful with his splitter, not leaving it in the zone, and Crow-Armstrong fouled off one high above the zone to start the at-bat; Winn later got him to ground out on a 2-2 splitter below the zone.  

The previous day, Cox ran for Eldridge at first in the ninth and stole second but never came around to score. Chapman had RBIs in both games after a go-ahead sacrifice fly Saturday. He had 10 RBIs in the series, and his single in the 10th was the Giants’ first hit since the fourth inning — his own infield single.

Cubs pitchers set down 17 in a row, all with the starter already out of the game, because Jameson Taillon left with a left hamstring strain in the second inning. Taillon allowed the Giants’ first run on Jung Hoo Lee’s two-out single in the first as he pushed his hitting streak to 15 games.

With the injury, the Cubs took a lot of extra time to get Javier Assad ready, and wow, was he ever: Assad allowed just Chapman’s infield single, walked a man and hit another in his scoreless 6⅓ innings. He came in with a 5.88 ERA. The reliever got a standing ovation when he left with one out in the eighth, the game tied 1-1.

San Francisco starter Trevor McDonald gave up one run in his five innings of work, giving up a two-out single to No. 9 hitter Carson Kelly in the second, then singles to Crow-Armstrong and Moises Ballesteros, the latter of which sent in Kelly. 

The strangest sequences Sunday occurred in the eighth, when Giants reliever Erik Miller got bailed out for not one but two mistakes. First, he walked the leadoff man, then fielded Busch’s dribbler down the first-base line and tried to backhand the ball to Rafael Devers and arced it over him. Second baseman Luis Arraez backed up beautifully and zipped a throw to third, nearly getting pinch-runner Kevin Alcántara. 

With men at the corners and no outs, Bregman lined out to Devers at first and Devers swiftly went to third, with Alcántara unaccountably taking off for home.

“It came off the bat funny, so you have to catch and secure the ball first, and then I said to the other guys in the dugout, ‘If I was in his shoes, I probably would have turned my back to the runner at third, because the bag and the runner there are the closest thing to you.’” Vitello said. “The alertness was phenomenal, but then he had the calm to set his feet. It’s kind of like a quarterback with a wide-open wide receiver, you hurry that thing instead of just setting your feet and making a good toss. I thought he handled that great.”

Miller, lucky as heck, struck out Ian Happ with a slider to end the inning, hollering as he did so. 

The Giants have spent 38 days of the first 66 days of the season away from Oracle Park. Sunday, they wrapped up their third three-city road trip of the first two-plus months; for contrast, the Cubs have one three-city trip all year. Game time for the finale: 7:30 p.m. CDT, with San Francisco playing a home game Monday. 

“Three three-city trips in the first 2½ months of the year, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it,” said reliever JT Brubaker, who worked a scoreless sixth. “Playing Sunday night to playing the next night and traveling two time zones — yeah, it’s a little different.”

The Giants were expected to get back to San Francisco in the wee hours Monday while Chicago is off Monday. 

Chapman said while chatting with Kelly, the Cubs catcher said, “Nice off-day tomorrow?” and Chapman said, “No, man, we go home and play against the Nationals. … I’m dead serious, we play tomorrow.” 

Kelly responded, “That’s insane.”

Vitello said that Tuesday might be when the Giants feel the effects of the unfortunate scheduling. “It’ll be interesting to see how that affects the guys and how they rise to the challenge,” he said. 

There is a great flip side to this for the team: The Giants are done with three-city trips for the season. 

“To mentally know that those are behind you is great,” Vitello said, “then the actual physical part of playing out the rest of the schedule hopefully pays dividends.”

“You’d rather have the hard stretch early than late, when there’s more meaningful baseball,” Brubaker said. “I’m not saying the whole season isn’t meaningful, but when it comes to August and September, some teams are going to be more tired because now they’re hitting their three-city road trips.”

There were many good things that happened on this trip, long as it was, with no days off. The offense didn’t just perk up, at times (Sunday aside), it plowed over opponents. Lee and Eldridge showed consistent prowess at the plate. Chapman came around after his difficult start, and the defense, especially in the infield, was exceptional; Chapman made a particularly slick play on a ball Nico Hoerner hit in the hole leading off the third, sliding, popping, spinning and throwing to first. 

The big bummer for the Giants on the trip was the bullpen, which had an 8.19 ERA and 25 walks in the 10 games. There is help on the way, though. Jason Foley (shoulder capsule surgery) will come off the injured list soon. Ryan Walker has a 1.08 ERA and an 0.84 WHIP at Triple-A Sacramento, and the team feels good about the adjustments he has made since he was demoted last month. 

Vitello said that Walker is in a good head space.

“I think he’s done what he needs to,” Vitello said. “From my standpoint, getting back out there again might be good for him. I know he’s worked on a couple things while he’s out there, but part of (bringing Walker back) might pertain to the schedule or what’s going on with other guys.”

Vitello said that Foley is “just as close as Walker is, that’s probably fair to say. You know his track record, and I think he would bring a ton of personality.”

Foley, 30, saved 28 games with the Tigers in 2024 before requiring shoulder surgery the next year.