Giants’ offensive onslaught ends any talk of Cubs momentum after walk-off victory Thursday

Once again, baseball reminds us we are so easily fooled. One night after witnessing a dramatic ninth-inning comeback victory by the Cubs that lures us into thinking this surely signals a change in the team’s fortunes, reality slaps us in the face.

This slap was a doozy: Giants 18, Cubs 3.

It rarely is that easy, even though Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations who was watching the comeback from the clubhouse weight room, admitted he, too, was thinking what we were.

‘‘I think everyone hopes that game is a catalyst,’’ he said, ‘‘and we’ll find out later on if it is.’’

We didn’t have to wait long, although it would be just like baseball for the Cubs to run off eight victories in their next 10 games after being pummeled by the Giants, who hit seven home runs en route to their 18 runs, marking the most homers and runs the Cubs have yielded this season.

The trade deadline Aug. 3 is now less than two months away.

‘‘The furthest thing from my mind right now,’’ Hoyer said, ‘‘given the way we’ve played.’’

That was before the game. Would he have given a different answer afterward? Can’t say, although Edward Cabrera’s dismal performance after returning from the injured list merely reinforces that the Cubs won’t be making a deep October run unless the pitching improves, especially in the rotation.

Matthew Boyd, an All-Star last season who already has had two stints on the injured list — the first time for biceps tendinitis, the second for meniscus surgery on his left knee — is making a second rehab start Saturday in Triple-A Iowa and should rejoin the rotation in time to make his next start.

But with Cade Horton out for the year and Justin Steele’s return still a huge question mark, the Cubs will need help.

‘‘I think we just have to play better — like, that’s the priority,’’ Hoyer said. ‘‘But I think all along it’s pretty clear what our needs are going to be.

‘‘Our position-player group is deep and it’s pretty set. The backbone of this team is our position players, [and] they have to play well for us to be a good team. That’s not going to change at the deadline.

‘‘I think, obviously, we’ll be looking at pitching at that point. But to be sitting here talking about the deadline, given how we’ve played, seems to be the wrong thing to talk about.’’

Soon enough, however, it will dominate all conversation around the Cubs.

PCA’s walk-off a first

For all of Pete Crow-Armstrong’s signature moments with the Cubs, his game-winning bloop single in the ninth inning Thursday was the first walk-off hit of his career.

Crow-Armstrong’s hit, which found grass just in front of Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler, scored Seiya Suzuki with the tiebreaking run in a four-run ninth.

The beauty of the rally is that it featured seven hits, beginning with Michael Busch’s leadoff double. Alex Bregman flied out, but the next six Cubs hit safely, the first time since April 18, 2025, they strung together six hits in a row. And after Nico Hoerner, who had singled, was caught stealing, four of the hits came with two outs and the Cubs still trailing 6-4.

A rarity? You bet. It was the first time in at least 75 years the Cubs ended a game with six consecutive hits, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Cubs have been horrific with runners in scoring position. During a stretch in which they won only five of 23 games after May 8, they had batted .165 (35-for-212) with RISP. They were 6-for-10 on Thursday, the fifth time this season they had as many as six hits with RISP.

‘‘When a player is struggling and not getting the results he wants, as a coach I can give him a lot of support,’’ manager Craig Counsell said. ‘‘As a teammate, you can give him a lot of support. Your family members can give you a lot of support. [But] the game needs to give you some support, right?

‘‘And so that’s what happened for some guys last night. Like, the game needs to do it, right? And you need to create it, and it’s you that did it, and that’s probably the best start about it. The game gave the players some good feedback.

‘‘You know, Mom’s going to give you a hug, and your teammates are going to give you a pat on the back, but it just means more from the game. . . . It was a move-the-line-inning, and I think those innings build energy in the stadium, build energy in the dugout, and they’re fun because a lot of people are involved in it, right?

‘‘Those are the most fun kind of innings. Even though I love the home run, those are the most fun kind of innings, and that’s what last night was.’’

In Crow-Armstrong’s last 13 games entering Friday, he had posted a slash line of .320/.426/.620/ with four home runs and 10 RBI.