Game Recap: Pressly implodes in Cubs' blowout loss in extras to Giants

Matt Marton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 15 hours ago

CHICAGO - At some point, the Chicago Cubs (22-15) were due for a strange, yet ugly loss, which appears to have happened on Tuesday. Facing off against an excellent San Francisco Giants (23-15) club at Wrigley Field, the Cubs found themselves down early, trailing 4-0 after three innings.

They continued to trail throughout and entered the ninth inning facing an uphill climb and needing two runs to force extras. Leave it to Justin Turner and Kyle Tucker to come through in the clutch as they delivered a pair of RBI singles in the ninth to tie things up and helped send this game into extras 5-5.

The Cubs had a golden opportunity to win this game in the 10th, but after failing to get the job done, this game was off to the 11th, as it was up to Ryan Pressly to keep things close. Not only did Pressly struggle to do that, but he was lit up for nine runs, eight of them earned as he failed to record an out. That was the difference in this one as the Giants handed the Cubs their worst extra-inning defeat, knocking off the Cubs 14-5 in 11 innings.

As good as Colin Rea has been this season, this wasn't his best night and was by far his worst outing of the season. Sure, he gave the Cubs five innings of work, allowing five runs (4ER) on eight hits as his ERA rose to 2.43 on the season. Rea has been able to limit the damage for the most part, but after allowing a leadoff walk to Matt Chapman to begin the second, Rea found himself in trouble as the LaMonte Wade single put runners on the corners with one down.

Heliot Ramos kept the line moving with an RBI single to put the Giants in front 1-0, while a Patrick Bailey sacrifice fly doubled the Giants' lead. San Francisco kept the pressure on in the second as a Jung Hoo Lee two-run blast doubled the Giants' lead and put the Cubs in a massive 4-0 hole.

Opposing Rea and looking for his first win as a Giant was the future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, who managed to give the Giants one of his better outings of the season. Verlander matched Rea with five innings, walking two and striking out three while allowing three earned runs. Two of those runs came in the bottom of the third off a Miguel Amaya homer as the Cubs cut the Giants' deficit in half, 4-2.

Rea continued to run into trouble in the top half of the fourth as a pair of one-out singles from Ramos and Bailey set the Giants offense up once again before Brett Wisely's sacrifice bunt gave the Giants back on top by three, 5-2. That was the final run Rea would allow in his start, and it was also the final run of regulation for the Giants, as the Cubs' bullpen did a great job most of the night.

The turning point up to this point came in the fifth inning, where Rea managed to work around a Chapman double, backed by another impressive Pete Crow-Armstrong catch. That set things up for the offense to use that momentum to their advantage as Dansby Swanson continued his resurgence with a leadoff single to put another runner on base. Two batters later, Jon Berti came through with a huge RBI single as the Cubs were within 5-3.

Berti would get thrown out trying to steal second, which proved costly with Ian Happ (HBP) and Kyle Tucker (1B) following that up as the Cubs would've had the bases loaded, but instead settled for the one run allowed. With both bullpens taking care of business over the next few innings, the Cubs were down to their last shot as Ryan Walker toed the rubber for the Giants in the ninth.

Talk about a shaky outing for Walker, it all started with a leadoff walk to Crow-Armstrong, and just like that, the tying run was coming to bat. Walks were an issue for Walker throughout the ninth, walking Carson Kelly to put a pair of runners on and setting the stage for Justin Turner to potentially play hero. Granted, that didn't happen, but Turner did manage to deliver a pinch-hit RBI single as the Cubs pulled within 5-4.

Later in the ninth, Tucker tried to play hero, and after Happ struck out for the second out, Tucker picked up his entire team, using an RBI single to tie things up 5-5 and sent this one into extras. Hoping to use that momentum to their advantage, the Cubs had a chance to win it in the 10th, but the Swanson lineout ended the inning and sent the game to the 11th.

This is when things went south for the Cubs, particularly Pressly, as there are some concerns about a DL stint coming. Not only did Pressly fail to retire a batter, but he allowed nine runs, eight of them earned, and watched his ERA climb north of 7.20. Bailey delivered the game-winning RBI with a single, while a Wisely bunt and a bases-loaded hit by pitch from Willy Adames pushed across two more runs and extended the lead to 8-5.

That was only the start for the Giants and their offense as a trio of RBI singles for Hoo Lee, Chapman, and Wilmer Flores kept the line moving while the Ramos double pushed the lead to 13-5. Bailey capped off the nine-run 11th with a sacrifice fly as it was all San Francisco at this point, 14-5, as they would go on to win by that score, handing the Cubs their worst extra innings loss in franchise history.

Apart from the horrendous outing from Pressly, the Cubs' bullpen was outstanding as they allowed three hits across six innings. Happ and Swanson paced the Cubs with two hits as Chicago had eight hits in the loss. The Cubs will look to bounce back on Sunday as they send Ben Brown to the mound against Robbie Ray, looking for the series win.