, the second of six pitchers used by the Cubs in place of Lester, retired five batters. Craig Kimbrel allowed two singles in the ninth but got Brandon Belt to fly out for his seventh save.Earlier in the day, the Cubs optioned shortstop Addison Russell to Triple-A Iowa about two months after Russell completed a 40-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy. The move made room for catcher Willson Contreras to return from the injured list.Stephen Vogt doubled twice and had three hits for San Francisco. The Giants had won 17 of 20 games.The Cubs lead in the NL Central was down to a half-game before tagging San Francisco starter Tyler Beede (3-4) for three home runs in the first four innings.Baez homered in the first and then scored on Bryant's two-run blast in the third. Almora added his 10th home run in the fourth.Chicago won despite a depleted lineup. Beyond Lester and Bryant, first baseman Anthony Rizzo was ejected after striking out to end the fifth.Tyler Chatwood started in placed of Lester and allowed one run in four innings.Beede had been unbeaten with a 1.66 ERA in three July starts but couldn't keep the streak going against the Cubs. Beede allowed four runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings and matched his carer-high with seven strikeouts.GLOVE WORKChicago second baseman Robel Garcia made a pair of diving stops to take away hits from Mike Yastrzemski and Joe Panik. Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber also made a tumbling catch on Belt's sinking fly ball to end the seventh.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: Contreras went 1 for 4. He had been out since July 14 with a right foot strain.Giants: 3B Evan Longoria (left foot plantar fasciitis) will accompany the team on its upcoming nine-game road trip and could be activated off the injured list soon. Longoria is eligible to come off the IL on Friday. ... Buster Posey had the day off.UP NEXTCubs: LHP Jose Quintana (8-7, 4.42 ERA) takes a four-game winning streak into Friday's game at Milwaukee. Quintana has six wins in 13 career starts against the Brewers.Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija (7-8, 4.08) faces San Diego on Friday night for the second time this season. Samardzija beat the Padres on July 1 when he allowed two runs in eight innings.--More MLB:?https://apnews.com/MLB and?https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Rampaging Giants shoot for sweep of CubsFLMTwo undefeated pitchers in July put their winning streaks on the line Wednesday afternoon when the San Francisco Giants attempt to close out a three-game sweep of the visiting Chicago Cubs.The Giants have won the first two games of the series by identical 5-4 scores, needing 13 innings on Tuesday to record the 10th win in the past 11 games.Five of those 10 wins came in extra innings, all in the past eight days.The Cubs, who lost the last game of a homestand on Sunday following a four-game winning streak, have now dropped three straight.The surging Giants will send right-hander Tyler Beede (3-3, 4.70 ERA) in search of the club's 18th win in 21 games.Beede is coming off the best performance of his two-year career, when he shut out the New York Mets on three hits over eight innings in a 1-0 win on Friday.The 26-year-old did not get a decision in that game after he went 2-0 in his previous two starts. He owns a 1.66 ERA in three July starts.Beede has never faced the Cubs.The Cubs' Wednesday starter, left-hander Jon Lester (9-6, 3.87 ERA), has gone head-to-head with the Giants six times in his career, producing a 5-1 record with a 2.00 ERA. That includes a 2-1 mark with a 2.70 ERA in three starts at San Francisco.Like Beede, Lester has two wins and a no-decision in three July starts, over which he's compiled a 3.79 ERA. The no-decision came in his most recent effort, a 6-5 home win over San Diego on Friday, when he gave up four runs on 12 hits in six innings.With the Cubs staring at a pair of three-game series at the sites of National League Central challengers -- Milwaukee and St. Louis -- after completing the San Francisco set on Wednesday, and the Giants dealing with five extra-inning games in eight days, both clubs spent Tuesday afternoon making pitching plans.The Cubs copied a move the Giants had made one day earlier, demoting Monday's starting pitcher, Alec Mills, in order to add left-hander Tim Collins to their bullpen.The Giants did the same with Sunday starter Conner Menez on Monday, sending him to Triple-A Sacramento so that right-hander Sam Coonrod could be available for the Chicago series.That moved proved to be a stroke of genius, as the Giants had to call upon Coonrod as a fifth reliever in Tuesday's game. He retired the Cubs in order in the top of the 13th, then was rewarded with his first major league win when Pablo Sandoval connected for a walk-off home run in the bottom of the inning.As Giants manager Bruce Bochy had the day before, Cubs manager Joe Maddon found himself basically apologizing to Mills after the transaction."He knows he did his job," Maddon said to reporters. "I really like the way he pitches and I told him so." Bochy, meanwhile, admitted his attention will be divided Wednesday between San Francisco and Arizona, where Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto will face live hitters for the first time in a workout since undergoing Tommy John surgery."I love the progress he's made," Bochy told reporters. "I'm not going to be surprised to see him pitch (for the Giants) in September." --Field Level Media
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