Bullpen brilliance ends on 10th-inning homer

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants sauntered onto their home field Thursday seeking their first four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs here since 2012.

Instead, a 5-3, 10-inning loss spoiled their sunny, blue-sky afternoon and ushered the Giants into a scheduling gauntlet before the All-Star Break.

The first-place Dodgers arrive Friday night for, already, their final series at Oracle Park this season. Then come three-game sets at Atlanta and Cleveland before the Giants host Toronto and Minnesota. All those teams, except Toronto, are in playoff position and playing above .500.

Ian Happ belted a two-run homer off the center-field fence to snap a 3-3 tie in the 10th, and to break through against a Giants bullpen that had not allowed a run in its previous 21 1/3 innings this series.

The Giants’ 10th-inning counterattack came alive when pinch hitter Brett Wisely reached on a single into shallow left field, off shortstop Dansby Swanson’s glove. There would be no further rally. Austin Slater struck out (on nine pitches), Heliot Ramos flew out to cap his 0-for-4 day, and Wilmer Flores’ infield flyout finished his 0-for-5 day – and finished the series.

Limited to one hit through five innings, the Giants finally got to Cubs’ pitcher Shota Imanaga with a game-tying, three-run rally in the sixth. Jorge Soler’s two-out, ground-rule double off the right-field track pulled the Giants within 3-1, then Matt Chapman scored on a wild pitch, and, Soler came home on Luis Matos’ infield dribbler past Imanaga.

Austin Slater started that game-tying rally with a leadoff single, and Chapman kept things alive by singling after flyouts to shallow right field by Heliot Ramos and Wilmer Flores.

Then it was up to the Giants’ bullpen to repeatedly keep the Cubs from answering.

Hjelle’s turn came in the ninth. After one-out singles by Miles Mastrobuoni and Nico Hoerner, Michael Busch struck out looking, then Hjelle ended the threat by covering first on Cody Bellinger’s groundout.

Spencer Bivens worked a 1-2-3 sixth in relief of Jordan Hicks, then Erik Miller struck out Cody Bellinger with a 96.6-mph, full-count fastball to strand two runners in the seventh. A leadoff double by Seiya Suzuki in the eighth threatened to break through the Giants’ bullpen, but Ryan Walker struck out two of the next three batters he faced to strand Suzuki.

The Giants’ bullpen did the heavy lifting much of this series, pitching scoreless ball for 15 1/3 consecutive innings before Thursday’s closing act by (in order) Spencer Bivens, Erik Miller, Ryan Walker, Sean Hjelle, and, finally, Luke Jackson, who yielded the decisive homer to Happ.

The Cubs stranded a runner at second base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. They struck out 14 times overall, the first seven against Jordan Hicks, who allowed five hits, two walks  and three runs over six innings.

Heliot Ramos tried to ignite a winning rally with a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth. He was stranded at third, however, once Jorge Soler struck out following groundouts by Wilmer Flores and Matt Chapman.

The Cubs’ initial three runs also came in a collective bunch, in the third inning. Nico Hoerner’s two-run home run that just cleared the left-field wall, and Suzuki’s RBI triple over right fielder Luis Matos’ reach. Hoerner’s shot was the eighth home run allowed by Jordan Hicks over his past nine outings, after yielding just one over his first eight starts.

The Cubs unsuccessfully tried to score first an inning earlier, only to continue baserunning woes from their previous game. Ian Happ got thrown out at home trying to score from first, with Curt Casali easily applying the tag after Thairo Estrada’s relay throw from Heliot Ramos, who allowed Dansby Swanson’s two-out single to surprisingly fall into shallow center field for the Cubs’ first hit.

Momentum neary swung the Giants’ way in their half of the third, starting with Nick Ahmed’s 11-pitch walk, Casali’s single, and then a replay reversal that deemed Slater safe at first. That rally died with a Ramos strikeout and a Flores flyout.