BOX SCORE

The Cubs hoped an off day after a series sweep would allow them to rest, recharge and attack the San Francisco Giants.

Instead, a future Hall of Famer turned back the clock and cooled off the red-hot offensive vibes that had begun to bubble in sunny Southern California. Justin Verlander limited the Cubs to two runs across six innings as the Giants took the series opener 5-2 at Oracle Park and snapped the Cubs’ modest three-game winning streak.

The loss, coupled with a walk-off win by the Milwaukee Brewers means the Cubs (76-56) are now 6.5 games back in the NL Central with 30 games left for Chicago. Here are three takeaways from the loss:

Enchanted

At about 9:50 p.m. Central time, Cubs fans felt like the NL Central deficit was thinning.

Matt Shaw had singled to tie the game at 1 and the Arizona Diamondbacks had scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth in Milwaukee to tie the game at 8 with runners at the corners. It looked like the Cubs had a solid opportunity to narrow the lead in the NL Central to 4.5 games.  

What a difference a half hour makes.

In that time, the Brewers had collected their 10th walk-off win of the year, and the Cubs had seen a 2-1 lead turn into a 5-2 deficit and would see the NL Central gap widen to 6.5 games.

It’s scoreboard-watching season and things change in a hurry. Like the San Diego Padres, who trail the Cubs by two games for the top Wild Card spot, blowing a five-run lead before rallying back to retake the lead Tuesday night.

Cubs fans will want to be keeping an eye on their team, Milwaukee and San Diego over the next month or so.

Timeless

Verlander will very likely have a plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. one day. But the 2025 version of the future Hall of Famer isn’t the same as the right-hander who has racked up over 3,500 strikeouts, won 263 games and collected three Cy Young Awards, an MVP, a Rookie of the Year and appeared in nine All-Star Games, among many other accolades.

He entered Tuesday with a 1-10 record, a 4.64 ERA with a 1.437 WHIP and the Giants were 5-17 in his starts this season.

But against the Cubs, he kept an offense that thought it had regained its groove at bay – pun intended. Verlander allowed just two runs on seven hits in six innings of work with five strikeouts and made some history, too:

Sure, there’s still a mental component of seeing “Justin Verlander” as the probable starter, but this offense that had scored 19 runs in Anaheim over the weekend likely should have cashed in on some of the many opportunities they created.

In the first, the Cubs had second and third with two outs and didn’t plate a run. Two innings later, it was second and third with two outs before Pete Crow-Armstrong struck out. The Cubs stranded eight baserunners and were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Part of the reason that those missed opportunities against Verlander hurt were because of the prowess of the Giants’ bullpen. San Francisco’s reliever corps have the second-best ERA in baseball, and they combined with Verlander to retire 11 in a row before Dansby Swanson’s one-out single in the ninth inning.

Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve

Matthew Boyd looked set for another solid outing.

Through five innings, he had allowed three runs and had eight strikeouts. Craig Counsell opted to keep the left-hander in the sixth inning, and he allowed a one-out walk to Wilmer Flores before allowing a two-run home run to Matt Chapman that broke the game open.

Sure, there’s an argument to be made that Counsell should have pulled him after the fifth — he had allowed two runs on three hits in that frame — but Boyd has been the Cubs’ most consistent starter, and the Giants entered the game struggling against left-handed pitching.

Ultimately, the move backfired, but the Cubs scoring just two runs was the bigger contributor to Tuesday night’s loss.