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Chicago • Jeff Samardzija finally got to make a playoff start at Wrigley Field, and it worked out really well for his former team.

Samardzija lasted just two innings in the shortest start of his career and San Francisco was shut down by Chicago's bullpen in a 5-2 loss to the Cubs on Saturday night, putting the Giants on the brink of elimination two games into their best-of-five NL Division Series.

Gregor Blanco hit an RBI double and Brandon Belt added a sacrifice fly in San Francisco's two-run third, but that was it for the Giants in another sluggish performance at the plate. They have scored in just two of their 27 innings in this year's postseason, winning 3-0 on Conor Gillaspie's ninth-inning homer in the wild-card game against the Mets and losing 1-0 in the NLDS opener Friday night.

San Francisco won the World Series in 2010, '12 and '14, and its playoff win against the Mets on Wednesday was reminiscent of its even-year magic during those title runs. But the Giants' lackluster stay in Chicago put them in a big hole against the loaded Cubs, who led the majors with 103 wins this year.

The biggest positive for the Giants: Madison Bumgarner is lined up for Game 3 on Monday night in San Francisco. The big left-hander tossed a four-hitter in the wild-card win and is 6-1 with a microscopic 0.79 ERA in his last nine playoff appearances.

San Francisco also can draw from its 2012 title run, when it dropped the first two games of the division series against Cincinnati and won three in a row to advance. The Giants then fell behind 3-1 in the NLCS against St. Louis and stayed alive again.

Manager Bruce Bochy's club was looking to rebound in Game 2 against the Cubs after it managed just six hits against Jon Lester and Aroldis Chapman in the series opener. But the Giants trailed from the very beginning in Samardzija's second career start at Wrigley as a visitor.

Samardzija was drafted by the Cubs in 2006 and spent his first 6 1/2 seasons with the team before he was traded to Oakland in the 2014 deal that brought shortstop Addison Russell to the Cubs. His only previous playoff appearance was a relief outing for Chicago against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2008 Division Series.

The right-hander, a native of nearby Merrillville, Indiana, who played baseball and football at Notre Dame, fell behind in the first when Dexter Fowler hit a leadoff double and scored on Ben Zobrist's two-out RBI single.

The Cubs added three more in the second. The big blow was pitcher Kyle Hendricks' two-run single on a flare to center.

Bochy then hit for Samardzija in the third. The righty allowed six hits and walked one, throwing 33 of his 47 pitches for strikes.

Hendricks departed in the fourth with a bruised right forearm after he was struck by Angel Pagan's line drive with two out. But the Giants managed just two hits against five Cubs relievers.

Travis Wood, who replaced Hendricks, got four outs and homered against George Kontos in the fourth. Chapman pitched a perfect ninth for his second save of the series.

The Giants totaled six hits against six pitchers. Bochy even asked Bumgarner to spark San Francisco's sluggish offense as a pinch-hitter in the fifth — third baseman Kris Bryant bobbled Bumgarner's grounder for an error, then threw the ball away to let Bumgarner reach second base with one out. Bumgarner was stranded. —

Cubs 5, Giants 2

San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Span cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Belt 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0 .167

Posey c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .250

Pence rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250

Crawford ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .143

Pagan lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333

Gillaspie 3b 2 0 0 0 0 1 .200

d-Tomlinson ph-3b 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000

Panik 2b 3 1 1 0 0 1 .333

Samardzija p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

a-Blanco ph 1 1 1 1 0 0 1.000

Kontos p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

b-Bumgarner ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Blach p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Casilla p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

e-Nunez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Law p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Lopez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Strickland p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Totals 32 2 6 2 0 6

Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Fowler cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .143

Bryant 3b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .286

Rizzo 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Zobrist lf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .143

Russell ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Heyward rf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .143

Baez 2b 3 1 1 0 1 2 .500

Contreras c 3 1 2 0 0 0 .667

Hendricks p 1 0 1 2 0 0 1.000

Wood p 1 1 1 1 0 0 1.000

Edwards p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

c-Montero ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Montgomery p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Rondon p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Chapman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Totals 33 5 9 5 1 6

San Francisco 002 000 000 — 2 6 1

Chicago 130 100 00x — 5 9 3

a-doubled for Samardzija in the 3rd. b-reached on error, advanced to 2nd for Kontos in the 5th. c-popped out for Edwards in the 6th. d-struck out for Gillaspie in the 7th. e-lined out for Casilla in the 7th. E—Panik (1), Bryant 2 (2), Contreras (1). LOB—San Francisco 5, Chicago 5. 2B—Panik (1), Blanco (1), Fowler (1), Heyward (1). HR—Wood (1), off Kontos. RBIs—Belt (1), Blanco (1), Bryant (1), Zobrist (1), Hendricks 2 (2), Wood (1). SF—Belt. Runners left in scoring position—San Francisco 1 (Belt) Chicago 2 (Zobrist 2). RISP—San Francisco 1 for 5 Chicago 4 for 10. Runners moved up—Span 2, Fowler, Rizzo. GIDP—Gillaspie. DP—Chicago 1 (Baez, Russell, Rizzo).

San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Samardzija L, 0-1 2 6 4 4 1 1 18.00

Kontos 2 1 1 1 0 1 4.50

Blach 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Casilla 2/3 2 0 0 0 0 0.00

Law 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0.00

Lopez 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Strickland 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00

Chicago IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Hendricks 3 2/3 4 2 2 0 0 4.91

Wood W, 1-0 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Edwards H, 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.00

Montgomery H, 1 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 0.00

Rondon H, 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0.00

Chapman S, 2-2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

Inherited runners-scored—Lopez 1-0, Wood 1-0, Rondon 1-0. Umpires—Home, Alan Porter First, Larry Vanover Second, Marvin Hudson Third, John Hirschbeck Right, Todd Tichenor Left, Mike Muchlinski.

T—3:03. A—42,392 (41,072).