The ball went to center field, and when it came down, three men had scored and Matt Chapman was rounding first.
A grand slam — his third home run of the year — with Luis Arraez, Willy Adames, and Bryce Eldridge on base ahead of him. Four runs batted in on one swing. But that was the middle of the story, not the end.
The night had started with a strikeout, swinging, the kind of at-bat that leaves no trace. Then the bases loaded, then the ball to center. Then a fly ball to right that Seiya Suzuki settled under — but Adames tagged from third and scored, and a sacrifice fly gave Chapman his fifth RBI. Then the last swing: a fly ball to left that kept carrying. Jung Hoo Lee scored. Bryce Eldridge scored. Chapman scored. His fourth home run of the season.
Eight runs batted in. Two hits, both home runs, and a sacrifice fly. The Giants beat the Cubs 18–3 at Wrigley Field, and Chapman drove in nearly half of every run his team scored.
The first eight-RBI game of 2026. What makes it hard is not the hitting alone. The difficulty is convergence — a man has to keep coming to the plate with runners stacked ahead of him, and then he has to deliver. Chapman's evening was one wasted at-bat and three times he stepped in with the bases full or nearly full. Grand slam, three on. Sacrifice fly, a man on third. Home run, two on. Every time there was traffic, he cleared it.
Four plate appearances. One was a strikeout. The other three produced eight runs.
The scorecard from Wrigley Field shows 18 for San Francisco and 3 for Chicago. Eight of those runs sit in one row.
