Cubs snap Red Sox' 10-game winning streak behind Seiya Suzuki's three-run first inning blast

At some point, the Red Sox winning streak was going to come to an end. Boston entered the All-Star break clicking on all cylinders and opened the second half of the season looking more like the team they were back in June.

The Red Sox fell behind immediately after Lucas Giolito issued back-to-back walks in the bottom of the first. Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki crushed a three-run homer into the center field seats for a 3-0 lead. It was Suzuki’s 26th homer of the season and upped his RBI total to 80. 

The three-run cushion was a dagger in the first inning and paced the Cubs to a 4-1 win on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

The next batter, Pete Crow-Armstrong, dropped a ball between third base and left field that neither Alex Bregman nor Jarren Duran could pick up in the sun for a double. After a brief meeting on the mound, Giolito regrouped and recorded three straight outs.

The 31-year-old settled into his outing following the rough first, tossing four scoreless frames before giving up another run in the sixth. Giolito went 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs off five hits with two walks while striking out six batters. 

“That’s a bad way to start the series and the second half. I’ve got to be a tone setter and I didn’t do that,” Giolito said. “Two walks and a home run, three runs in the first inning, that puts us on our heels so I’ve got to be better than that.”

He recorded 14 swings and misses in total during his start. Giolito’s outing snapped a streak of six consecutive quality starts that dated back to June 10.

“I’m thinking what could I have done better to prepare, nothing really, I just needed to be better,” Giolito said. “Hopefully the boys pick me up tomorrow and we still win the series, but definitely not proud of that.”

Friday was the first time that Giolito had pitched in a game for the Red Sox since July 9. 

“He just didn’t make pitches and then there was a pitch up in the zone and (Suzuki) covered it,” Cora said. “That was a good swing.”

In the third inning, Roman Anthony ignited the Red Sox with a two-out double that brought Duran, who had walked to open the frame, home. Bregman, who singled ahead of Anthony, moved to third on the play. The Red Sox rally was ended by a Carlos Narváez strikeout, who also killed another rally two innings later, which was highlighted by a mental mistake on the base paths.

Abraham Toro made a bonehead mistake on the base paths that proved costly in the fifth inning. He singled to lead off the inning and moved to second base when Duran walked. Toro would then be doubled off second after Bregman’s 324-foot lineout to center field Crow-Armstrong.

“I think we had chances and then we made that baserunning mistake,” Cora told reporters in Chicago. “We put pressure on them, not enough, first inning two walks, we can talk about the homer but the two walks before put us in a bad spot.”

Bregman finished the day 1-for-4 in just his third game back off the injured list. Alex Cora outlined his plan to use Bregman for four of the six games on this road trip. The All-Star third baseman will play on Saturday and receive an off day on Sunday.

“He’s in a good spot,” Cora said before the game. “He was able to bounce back from that series (last weekend vs. Tampa). 

"He felt good on Monday.”

Boston’s bullpen kept the game scoreless, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings to keep it a three-run game. Greg Weissert went 1/3 of an inning and was replaced by Brennan Bernardino. The southpaw gave the Sox 1 1/3 innings out of the pen, and Jorge Alcala continued to look strong since he was acquired from the Twins, striking out one and walking one in a scoreless eighth inning.

Duran made a nice running catch on the foul line in left field, slamming into the unpadded wall for the final out of the fourth inning. 

The offense squandered multiple opportunities throughout the game, including in the seventh inning, coming up empty-handed despite having two men on with one out and later having runners on the corners with two outs. The Sox finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men on base in total.

With the loss, the Sox are now 53-46 and 11-2 in the month of July. The Red Sox and Cubs will resume their three-game series tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m., and Boston will send Brayan Bello (6-3, 3.14 ERA) to the mound. He will be opposed by Cubs southpaw Shota Imanaga (6-3, 2.65 ERA). 

The game will air on FOX.