Cabrera gets rocked as Cubs surrender eight-run lead

Cabrera gives – Edward Cabrera, coming back from an injury layoff, surrendered eight runs—including three home runs by the Giants—in a one-sided 18-3 loss at Wrigley Field that left the Cubs reeling well into the fourth inning.

For one brutal afternoon at Wrigley Field, Edward Cabrera earned a new nickname from Cubs fans who left more squirming than satisfied: “El Aguafiesta,” Spanish for buzzkill.

Cabrera. a right-hander. hadn’t pitched since May 20 because of a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand—an issue that wasn’t independently confirmed. but the crowd of 39. 060 seemed convinced as they watched the Giants take off. Seven San Francisco home runs carried the night into an 18-3 demolition of the Cubs. and the damage piled up quickly once Cabrera was on the mound.

The Cubs had reached a different kind of high point on Thursday. when they rallied in the ninth inning against the Athletics. That comeback inspired team icon Anthony Rizzo—sitting in a front-row field box—to tear off his shirt in a “Tarps Off”-style celebration. Friday offered no similar moment. Instead. the mood shifted after Cabrera allowed eight runs and eight hits. including three home runs. and didn’t last into the fourth inning.

The inning that turned the game into a rout began with a grand slam to Matt Chapman and, three batters later, a two-run shot by Casey Schmitt.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell tried to explain how a night that started with a return could end so lopsided. “The stuff, I thought, kind of ticked up from where we left it before he went on the injured list,” Counsell said. “He just made some bad pitches, and they put them in the seats.”

Even after Cabrera’s departure, the Giants didn’t slow down. They began scoring almost immediately—Luis Arraez doubled and Willy Adames launched the first of his two home runs for a 2-0 lead four batters into the game.

San Francisco kept coming in waves. In the Giants’ six-run fourth, 10 batters came to the plate. In the seven-run, eight-hit sixth, another dozen batters stepped in, and it included Adames’ second homer—a two-run shot—and Chapman’s third of the night, a three-run blast.

Adames’ second home run came against lefty reliever Hoby Milner. who entered the game with a 2.28 ERA and left with a 4.18 ERA after giving up six runs in a third of an inning. Ethan Roberts replaced Milner after a hit batsman and a single. and Roberts immediately ran into more trouble—he gave up Chapman’s second hom run to the first batter he faced.

By that point, the score was 16-0, but the crowd barely bothered to boo. The Cubs were too far down, and the Giants were too firmly in control.

Chapman, who also hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth against Phil Maton, finished with eight RBIs—a career high that tied a San Francisco record. It was also the most RBIs by a player in the majors this season.

The scene didn’t feel like a typical blowout in small details, either. Hall of Fame right-hander Fergie Jenkins was in the house and led the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game. ” even as the Cubs’ bullpen tour stretched into something everyone could see was slipping away. Jenkins is 83. When it came time to send someone out for the ninth inning, Counsell chose catcher Carson Kelly.

Kelly’s first pitch of the ninth registered 61.7 mph on the radar gun. Jonah Cox hit it 446 feet. with substitute center fielder Kevin Alcantara giving it a half-wave as it cleared into the center-field bleachers. Kelly then threw a second pitch at 49.7 mph. and Schmitt answered with a shot that traveled 424 feet into the bleachers in left-center.

Kelly settled after that. He set down the next three Giants in order, on two pop-ups and a comebacker to the mound. For those moments, there was still something worth a standing “O.” But by then, most of the crowd had already started heading for the exits.

The contrast with Thursday’s ninth-inning surge was impossible to miss. The “Hallelujah Chorus” played by Wrigley organist Josh Langhoff helped set the tone after the rain stopped and play resumed following an hour delay. but Friday’s version of the song came with a different ending. Where the Cubs had high-stepped across home plate four times in the ninth on Thursday. Friday turned into a shell-shocked parade.

“ I think we just have to play better — like, that’s the priority,” president Jed Hoyer said before the game.

Cubs Edward Cabrera Wrigley Field Giants Matt Chapman Casey Schmitt Willy Adames Anthony Rizzo Craig Counsell Jed Hoyer