Chicago Cubs, Jon Lester fall to Giants, 5-3

The Chicago Cubs streak of starters going at least five innings came to an end as the Giants chased Jon Lester in the third en route to a 5-3 win in the second game of the series.

The Chicago Cubs (29-12) had become accustomed to their starters going at least five innings in games, but the San Francisco Giants (26-19) and Buster Posey put an end to that as they got to Jon Lester early to chase him from the game after allowing five runs in just 2 2/3 innings. The Cubs added two runs late but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.

Lester (4-3, 2.60) struggled, falling behind hitters often thanks to a small strike zone from home plate umpire Greg Gibson. The Giants got on the board first with a two-run double from starter Matt Cain. The Cubs came right back in the top half of the third on a solo home run from Kris Bryant off of Cain (1-5, 5.37).

The Giants added to their lead in the bottom half of the inning when Buster Posey broke out of his slump with a two-run home run to score Joe Panik. Trevor Brown then singled home Matt Duffy and was called safe trying to turn it into a double. After replay, the call was overturned and Brown was called out.

The Cubs once again tried to rally after an RBI single from Javier Baez scored Jorge Soler to cut it to 5-2. The Cubs would bring the tying run to the plate in Tim Federowicz, but Giants reliever Javier Lopez struck him out to end the Cubs rally. 

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Dexter Fowler homered to open the ninth off of closer Santiago Casilla, but he retired them 1-2-3 after that to close the win out for the Giants.

The two teams will close out the series tomorrow night on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN at 7:05 p.m. CT.