Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (6/7/26): Giants 2, Cubs 1 F/10 – Big Effort by Assad not Enough in Extra Innings Loss

The Cubs played another game in which they sputtered badly with runners in scoring position as they dropped the series to the Giants on Sunday night. The extra innings loss wasted a tremendous effort by Javier Assad, who was outstanding after coming in unexpectedly as an injury replacement for starter Jameson Taillon.

Before exiting with a hamstring strain in the 2nd inning, Taillon allowed an early run to San Francisco on an RBI single by Jung Hoo Lee. Chicago evened the game against Trevor McDonald on a run-scoring single by Moisés Ballesteros in the bottom of the 3rd.

Assad pitched into the 7th inning and gave up nothing, but things remained deadlocked into extra innings as the North Siders failed to take advantage of numerous scoring chances. Matt Chapman came through again in the top of the 10th with a seeing-eye single that scored the Giants’ ghost runner.

The Cubs stranded their free runner in the bottom of the frame and dropped the game by a margin of 2-1. (Box score)

Key Moment

Chicago had runners on first and third with nobody out in the bottom of the 8th, and Alex Bregman hit a line drive to Rafael Devers at first base. Devers fired to third to catch pinch-runner Kevin Alcántara off the base for a double play and they failed to score.

Why the Cubs Lost

They went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, allowing the Giants to hang in and eventually win the game.

Stats That Matter

• Assad really came up huge to save the bullpen: 6.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 5 K, and 1 BB.
• Ballesteros had a walk in addition to his single and looked good at the plate.

Bottom Line

Hitting with runners in scoring position tends to be random, eventually coming close to matching a team’s overall hitting by the end of the season. That does not seem to be happening for the Cubs so far, as they are dead last in hitting with runners in scoring position. If anything, it’s actually getting worse as the weeks go by. If it doesn’t change soon, it might spell an early end to Chicago’s season.

On Deck

The Cubs have a travel day on Monday before playing the Rockies at Coors Field starting Tuesday at 7:40pm CT. Colin Rea gets the nod against Tomoyuki Sugano in a matchup available on Marquee with a radio broadcast available on The Score.