Pence hit a home run with two outs in the seventh inning, the Giants’ first hit off Jon Lester in a 2-1 loss to the Cubs on Friday afternoon.
The Giants collected three hits for the second straight day, fell to 0-2 in September and continued to show no signs of breaking from a funk that began immediately after the All-Star break.
Brandon Crawford was the unluckiest of Giants, lining out to both of Chicago’s corner infielders, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, who needed to dive to his left to prevent a Crawford hit in the fifth inning.
Crawford followed Pence in the batting order, and after Pence’s homer, Crawford got up and shot a grounder through the infield and somehow legged out a double.
Catcher Trevor Brown, who would have been better served sleeping in the trainers’ room, doubled with one out in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Mac Williamson popped out and Denard Span grounded out.
Brown couldn’t play Thursday because he was sick and didn’t improve much Friday but still caught the entire game, only because the Giants have not called up a third catcher despite September roster expansion.
The Cubs scored both their runs in the third inning off Albert Suarez, the Giants’ new fifth starter.
