Chicago, IL – Starlin Castro's RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants in the second edition of a four-game series from Wrigley Field.
Pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro greeted Sergio Romo (0-1) with a game-tying solo homer to right to start the bottom of the ninth, and three batters later, David DeJesus singled to keep the game alive. Castro then drilled a ball to center, just beyond the reach of Angel Pagan and off the ivy, to produce the winning run.
"That's the guy we want up in that situation," DeJesus said of Castro.
It rescued Kyuji Fujikawa (1-0), who entered the game with a 2-0 lead but gave up three runs in the top of the ninth.
DeJesus and Castro added solo homers for the Cubs, who lost Thursday's series opener by a 7-6 count.
Brandon Belt slugged a two-run double and Pablo Sandoval added a run-scoring hit for the Giants.
Marco Scutaro doubled with one down in the top of the ninth, advanced on a wild pitch, then scored when Sandoval popped a ball down the right-field line that fell to make it 2-1. Fujikawa then hit Buster Posey on the arm, and Hunter Pence beat out his grounder to short to put runners on first and third with two down.
Belt followed with a two-run double to right to give the visitors a one-run edge that didn't last.
"I like how our guys fought back there in the ninth," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
A DeJesus blast to right field put the Cubs on the board in the home third, then Castro cleared the wall in left center for a 2-0 game in the fifth.
Chicago starter Carlos Villanueva departed after a one-out hit by Gregor Blanco in the eighth, but James Russell allowed a single to Brandon Crawford before inducing an inning-ending double-play grounder from Andres Torres.
Game Notes
Villanueva gave up three hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 7 1/3 scoreless innings, while Giants counterpart Matt Cain departed after seven full frames with seven hits and a pair of runs on his ledger ... Chicago first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who drove in two runs on Thursday, saw his streak of four straight multi-RBI efforts in the team's first nine games come to an end. The last Cub to record five multi-RBI efforts in the team's first 10 games was Dave Kingman in 1979 ... The Giants are in the midst of playing five consecutive scheduled day games for the first time since April 17-21, 1996.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.