SAN FRANCISCO—Ryan Vogelsong won his fourth straight decision, Buster Posey scored the go-ahead run on a double-play groundball by Joaquin Arias in the seventh inning and the Giants beat the Cubs 3-2 on Monday for a four-game sweep. San Francisco’s starters have gone seven straight games pitching seven or more innings while allowing two or fewer runs, just the second time it has been done since the franchise came West in 1958. Giants pitchers accomplished the feat in nine consecutive games from July 1-10, 1988.In this series, Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain and Barry Zito had won before Vogelsong’s impressive performance on a rare wraparound getaway game on a Monday. Brandon Crawford hit an RBI double and drove in another run on a fielder’s choice to back Vogelsong (4-2), helping the Giants to their season-best fourth straight victory. San Francisco (31-24) moved a season-high seven games over .500. The Giants began the day trailing NL West-leading Los Angeles by three games. The Dodgers had a night game at Philadelphia. Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol (0-2) was hit with a line drive on Angel Pagan’s infield single in the seventh but stayed in the game after being checked out, then walked Brandon Belt on four pitches to load the bases for Arias.Pagan singled in the fifth for a 28-game home hitting streak, the longest in franchise history since 1900. He tipped his batting helmet and clapped his hands at first base in appreciation following a warm ovation from the sellout crowd of 41,524 on a day that began with sporadic rain in the early innings after the tarp came off late morning.The Giants completed the club’s first sweep of the season in its fifth try — the games decided by five total runs. San Francisco pulled off its first four-game sweep of the Cubs since June 17-20, 1999, at Candlestick Park.
“Pitching was just outstanding,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We scratched and clawed for the runs we got. These games could have gone either way.” OR NOT!
Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija matched his season high with five walks while striking out six in five innings. The right-hander allowed seven hits and two runs but has only one win in his last five outings. Pinch-hitter Adrian Cardenas hit a one-out double in the seventh for his fifth major league hit — all of them doubles — but the Cubs couldn’t avoid an 11th straight loss away from Wrigley Field. It’s their longest road skid since the 1954 team lost 11 in a row from June 18-29. They also lost a one-run game for the 10th straight time. Pagan’s single in the fifth followed a leadoff walk by Posey, and the Giants loaded the bases with no outs against Samardzija. The Cubs allowed the tying run on a fielder’s choice by Crawford in which second baseman Darwin Barney flipped the ball to shortstop Starlin Castro at second. Castro didn’t throw to first to try for the double play even though he might have had time to save a run.
“It’s something that’s obviously unacceptable at any time,” manager Dale Sveum said. “Whether we could have turned the double play or not is irrelevant to not knowing how many outs there are in the most important part of the game. These things have got to stop happening or he’s going to stop playing. These kind of things are things that my son does in high school maybe.”
Vogelsong allowed four straight singles and five total in the second, including consecutive run-scoring hits by Steve Clevenger and Samardzija. After leadoff man Tony Campana’s single, Vogelsong received a mound visit from pitching coach Dave Righetti before fielding Castro’s grounder and throwing him out on a close play at first. Vogelsong pitched seven innings and didn’t walk a batter for the first time this season. Jeremy Affeldt recorded the final six outs for his first save in his first chance, getting a leaping catch from second baseman Ryan Theriot on Clevenger’s high liner to end it.
NOTES—Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval, rehabbing from surgery to remove a broken hamate bone in his left hand, might not return to the Giants until next Tuesday against Houston following this weekend’s home series with the two-time reigning AL champion Texas Rangers. “We need to get him in shape to play third,” Bochy said. “Hopefully we’re not forced to make a change. That’s in Pablo’s hands.” ….Sveum is a former hitting coach, so the offensive woes have been tough. “You take things like this personally,” he said. “I’ve lost sleep over it. You take pride in a lot of things, and that’s one of them.”