 was sharp once again in the low-profile reunion. Cueto (4-4) was just OK, striking out eight in six innings, but surrendering Chicago's three homers. Brandon Crawford doubled in Buster Posey in the fifth, and that was it for the Giants. Lester retired the side in order in the ninth, getting Christian Arroyo to foul out to left on his 99th pitch for the final out. San Francisco dropped to 3-2 on its seven-game trip to St. Louis and Chicago. It had won eight of 10 overall. The start of the game was delayed 65 minutes by rain. After the first four batters struck out, Schwarber drove a 3-2 pitch from Cueto over the bleachers in right and onto Sheffield Avenue for his seventh homer. Heyward added another solo shot into the basket in right in the second, and Rizzo's ninth homer made it 4-0 in the fourth. It was more than enough for Lester, who struck out 10 and walked none in his 15th career complete game. His previous longest outing of the season was seven innings, on April 16 against Pittsburgh and May 7 against the New York Yankees. He was helped by another solid defensive performance after a shaky start for the Cubs in the field. Shortstop Addison Russell made a slick stop behind second to begin a 6-4-3 double play in the second, and rookie Ian Happ had a nice grab in center on Brandon Belt's liner in the seventh. MINOR MOVESThe Cubs recalled RHP Felix Pena from Triple-A Iowa and optioned LHP Zac Rosscup to their top farm club. The 27-year-old Pena has no record and a 3.60 ERA in two appearances with the major league team this year. TRAINER'S ROOMGiants: CF Denard Span (sprained left thumb) was held out of the starting lineup for the second straight day. He got jammed on a pitch during Sunday's 8-3 loss at St. Louis. Cubs: LHP Brett Anderson, who is on the 10-day DL with a lower back strain, threw a bullpen session. He said everything felt normal. UP NEXTGiants LHP Matt Moore (2-4, 5.37 ERA) and Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (3-2, 3.35 ERA) meet in the third game of the four-game set on Wednesday night. Hendricks is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA in his last five outings after a rough start to the season. Moore pitched six effective innings in a no-decision on Friday at St. Louis, allowing two runs and five hits.---More baseball: https://www.apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap)
Time: 7:05 PM EDT Venue: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Ill., 60613 CHICAGO -- The last time Johnny Cueto pitched at Wrigley Field, he spun a three-hit, one-run masterpiece against the Chicago Cubs last October in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. The Cubs claimed a 1-0 victory that day on a Javier Baez eighth-inning home run and were equally delighted to avoid a second meeting with the San Francisco Giants right-hander in a potential Game 5 showdown. Chicago rallied with a four-run ninth in Game 4 for a 6-5 victory to clinch the series, launching the Cubs on the way to the NLCS and eventually the World Series." I'm telling you, Game 4 pretty much won the World Series for us," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Monday prior to the opener of a four-game series with the Giants. "I did not want to see Mr. Cueto pitching back here again." I'll get to see him tomorrow, but that's OK." A little more than seven months later, Cueto is back to face the Cubs on Tuesday for the 25th time. He will go again against left-hander Jon Lester, the winning pitcher in that Oct. 7 NLDS showdown. Cueto has 9-8 career regular-season record against the Cubs with a 3.24 ERA. Most of those starts came while he was in the same division as Chicago, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds from 2008-15. He is 4-3 with a 4.50 ERA in nine starts this season. After a 3-0 start, he has gone 1-4 with two no-decisions in his past five appearances. Cueto is coming off a 6-1 Giants loss on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers during which he gave up five runs on eight hits and five runs, struck out six and walked one in six innings. The game also featured a benches-clearing brawl." I don't think he pitched his sharpest," Giants catcher Buster Posey said after that contest. Cueto is a two-time All-Star (2014 and 2016). The Giants are 6-3 in his starts so far this year. Lester (2-2, 3.57 ERA) makes his 10th start of the season on Tuesday. He is coming off his second win of the season, a 9-5 Cubs victory over the Reds on Thursday. Lester allowed six hits and three runs over six-plus innings in that game, striking out five. He remains unbeaten in his last 18 Wrigley Field starts and is 13-0 in that span." We're trending in the right direction, which is good," he said. "Hopefully we can keep it going." Lester is 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA in five career regular-season starts against San Francisco. He threw a complete game in his first start against the Giants on June 27, 2010, as well as his most recent regular-season outing vs. San Francisco on Sept. 2, 2016. He tossed eight shutout innings and allowed five hits against the Giants in Game 1 of the 2016 NLDS. The Giants were 1-5 at Wrigley Field last season, and they are 2-9 against the Cubs over their last 11 in Chicago even after a 6-4 win on Monday.
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs
Pick Center
MLB
FINAL (5/23/2017)
ProfessorsPicks
