Chicago Cubs seize 2-0 NLDS lead on San Francisco Giants

Jeff Samardzija put the Giants in an early hole, as he allowed four earned runs on six hits and one walk in just two innings. Samardzija turned in a very solid season for the Giants this year but one thing is clear: he doesn’t do well against his former team.

On Saturday, Ben Zobrist came through with a two-out single to right, and Fowler scored easily to make it 1-0.

Jeff Samardzija starts for the Giants against Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Il.

On the first pitch he saw from Scherzer, Seager turned on a 97 miles per hour fastball and hit it to the deepest part of Nationals Park, beyond the 402-foot sign in center field, for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Blanco would score on a sacrifice fly, but tat was all the Giants would get across the plate. In the second, the Cubs peppered him for three runs on four hits, including a leadoff double by Jason Heyward, a two-run single by pitcher Kyle Hendricks and an RBI single by Kris Bryant that glanced off diving right fielder Hunter Pence’s glove. Hendricks tried a few warmup pitches and talked to manager Joe Maddon before departing Saturday night. X-rays on his forearm came back negative, and so the only lingering concern will be how much the bruising and swelling will affect him. He’s got a contusion, which is fancy talk for a bad bruise.

Hendricks isn’t scheduled to pitch again until next Sunday in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series. I was right, but in more ways than I could have imagined. On the first pitch, he dumped a flare into shallow centre field.

Three-time Cy Young Award victor Clayton Kershaw struggled in Washington, but Justin Turner belted a two-run homer and Corey Seager hit a solo shot while the Dodgers were building a 4-0 lead in a 4-3 win over the Nationals. The Cubs did it on the strength of a late-inning homer and superb starting pitching.

But Wood pitched well too.

He then gave up two runs in the third before getting hit with the line drive one inning later. No matter; Wood retired Span and Belt and no damage was done.

“Once he left the game, it was all hands on deck for us”, said rookie Carl Edwards Jr., who threw a scoreless inning in his postseason debut.

Pitching took center stage in Game 2 of the NLDS, not with pristine outings by either starter, but with a bevy of power-hitting pitchers. If the Giants have any chance of keeping this series alive, it’s with a pitcher who holds a 2.99 career ERA and.542 career OPS. They have yet to draw a walk in the series, and in three post-season games, they have scored in two of 27 innings. The team has had well-documented issues with closing out series – dating back to 1945, the last time Wrigley played host to a World Series. It was the 1984 NLCS. From our view, it didn’t look like he went.

If the Giants can somehow square the series by winning at home Monday and Tuesday, they’ll return to Chicago for a deciding Game 5 at Wrigley on Thursday. Earlier that October, they overcame a 2-0 deficit against the Reds in the NLDS.

So nothing is decided yet. “I’ll be ready to go whenever they need me”.

After the game, Giants catcher Buster Posey took a minor shot at Baez for his theatrics. Game four will likely be easier against Matt Moore, but let’s not worry about that.

At that point, Cubs pitchers accounted for three of the team’s five RBI. Chicago needs a lot out of him if it is to win it all.

Until Monday though, go celebrate.

Those seem to be the only kind the Giants and Cubs play when they wind up facing each other. Cubs fans will never know and frankly don’t care.