SAN FRANCISCO — Matthew Boyd would he liked his elevated fastball to land a few inches higher out of the zone.
The Chicago Cubs lefty watched San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman foul off his previous pitch, a four-seam fastball up and well above the strike zone, and wanted to go back to the same spot. Except this time Boyd witnessed Chapman slug the fastball 400 feet to left-center field for a two-run home run. The sixth-inning sequence ended Boyd’s night and marked the final runs in the Cubs’ 5-2 loss Tuesday night at Oracle Park.
“In a park like this, you’ve got to make everybody earn everything and that was an extra run for sure,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Boyd’s walk before the home run. “The pitch that Chapman hit was a little out over the plate, but it was definitely up at the top of the strike zone, so credit to a good hitter.”
The Cubs (76-56) left eight on base in the loss and had 13 of their final 14 batters retired. They scored on two-out singles from Matt Shaw and Carson Kelly in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Giants starter Justin Verlander held the Cubs to two runs over six innings.
“He knows how to pitch and knows how to make big pitches when there’s runners in scoring position and kept us off balance, mixed a couple different breaking balls, and he’s got a good heater coming from what it feels like the sky with that high release,” Kelly said. “He’s been doing this a long time and he’s been very successful. He executed tonight.”
Boyd walked three batters for a second consecutive start. His last walk of the night — four straight balls to Wilmer Flores — proved costly, preceding Chapman’s home run to extend the Giants’ lead.
“I know that these guys don’t chase much … I think it’s more a product of just where I’m at and it’s two outings that I just hen’t been as sharp,” Boyd said of the walks. “Those combinations lead to the strengths of the team that we’re playing to put themselves in forable situations.
“But it comes down to some pitches I could be a little better on, and that’s the difference in the game and they capitalized on my mistake.”
Boyd spent three years (2015-17) in Detroit with Verlander.
“I got to watch a Hall of Famer go about his business every five days, and I got to watch what he did in between starts and how he prepared, and he took me under his wing, and he helped me out a ton,” Boyd said. “He’s going to be in the Hall of Fame and I couldn’t be more happy for him. It’s fun to get to compete against him today.”
Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, foreground, and left fielder Ian Happ watch as fans reach for a two-run home run from the Giants' Matt Chapman during the sixth inning Aug. 26, 2025, in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/AP)
While Boyd expected better than the five runs allowed in 5 1/3 innings, the Cubs didn’t get enough from the offense. Entering the series opener, the Cubs owned the lowest ERA by starting pitchers since July 1 at 2.79, followed by the Boston Red Sox (3.21) and Milwaukee Brewers (3.48). For as much as the rotation has shouldered the load amid offensive inconsistencies, the Cubs need more production to lighten the load on the pitching staff.
As the Cubs enter the final four weeks of the regular season, they need their starters to stay healthy and sustain this success. The Cubs will continue to monitor workloads, especially with Boyd and rookie Cade Horton. Boyd, who is eraging 5.9 innings per start, is on pace to throw the most innings in his 11-year career after not tallying more than 79 innings in MLB since 2019. Meanwhile, Horton’s 93 2/3 innings for the Cubs are more than he has thrown in a single season during his career.
“You just continue to go game to game, pitch to pitch and series to series,” Kelly said. “And what this group really does is we’re really good at evaluating how we did and not making the bad so bad, not making it such a big problem and really just emphasizing what we do well our strengths and coming back every single day with the new mindset to win that game tonight.”
Originally Published: August 27, 2025 at 7:28 AM CDT