Outfielder Seiya Suzuki’s solo home run in the second inning was the only run keeping the Cubs ahead of the Giants for much of the game Monday.
Then when the Cubs added on in the late innings of their 5-0 victory, Suzuki continued to come up clutch.
‘‘I feel really good right now,’’ Suzuki said through an interpreter. ‘‘And I just want to make sure I continue this until the very end. So that’s what I’m going to do.’’
Suzuki drove in three of the Cubs’ five runs on a homer, a double and a fielder’s choice. He’s on a five-game hitting streak and is batting .337 since Aug. 9, when he returned to the everyday starting lineup after being platooned temporarily.
His homer against Giants starter Logan Webb was his 15th of the season, a career high. It was one of only two hits the Cubs had against Webb in the first six innings.
‘‘His changeup was really good today,’’ Suzuki said. ‘‘That home run that I hit was a hanger, so I got pretty lucky. But obviously we couldn’t get that many runs in today, so you see how good of a pitcher he was.’’
The Cubs finally started to string together hits against Webb in the seventh. Cody Bellinger led off with a single and advanced to second on a grounder by Dansby Swanson. That put him in scoring position for Suzuki, who hit a long fly into the gap in right-center field for an RBI double. An out later, Yan Gomes drove in Suzuki with a single to end Webb’s outing.
‘‘That was a good pitching matchup,’’ manager David Ross said of Webb going up against left-hander Justin Steele, the Cubs’ ace.
The Cubs tacked on two more runs in the eighth against reliever Tristan Beck.
Bellinger’s ‘bumps and bruises’
Bellinger served as the Cubs’ designated hitter for the second consecutive game.
‘‘He’s got some bumps and bruises,’’ Ross said. ‘‘I’m trying to err on the side of caution with that. But he’s fine. He can do everything we asked him to do.’’
Ross also made reference to the Cubs’ bizarre schedule this week. They played a doubleheader Friday, a night game Saturday and a noon game Sunday in Cincinnati. This week, they switch game times every day from Monday through Friday.
‘‘It’s the time of year that they’re not going to get many days off,’’ Ross said of his best players. ‘‘There’s no more resting. We’re gonna try to push it.’’
So DH-ing is the closest such players are going to get to a rest day. That’s how Ross will be looking at the DH spot as the Cubs go through a series of quick turnarounds.
This and that
The victory was the Cubs’ 74th of the season, tying their 2022 total.
• Steele and reliever Jose Cuas combined to pitch the Cubs’ 12th shutout of the season.
