CHICAGO _ Two months after a crowded spring training competition ended with Gorkys Hernandez emerging as the Giants fifth outfielder, Hernandez is playing like their best.
With three hits including two doubles on Saturday, Hernandez helped the Giants halt a three-game losing skid and even their series against the Cubs with a 5-4 win.
For much of the offseason, the Giants' front office labored over personnel decisions in the outfield, adding a new right fielder in a trade and a part-time center fielder through free agency.
The Giants considered newly acquired Austin Jackson, prospect Steven Duggar and even minor-league free agent Gregor Blanco for roles in center field, but Hernandez wasn't given much of an opportunity to stake his claim to consistent playing time.
Fifty-two games into the regular season, Hernandez has now pushed his average up to .311 and is providing a legitimate spark as the Giants' leadoff hitter. After having to claw his way onto the roster this spring, Hernandez is firming up his grip on the everyday center-fielder job, earning a start over Jackson against a left-handed starter, Jose Quintana.
With the Giants trailing 3-2 in the fifth, Hernandez led off with a double into the left-field corner. An Andrew McCutchen double over the outstretched glove of Ian Happ in center field knotted the score, and the Giants took the lead on a looping single from first baseman Brandon Belt.
Belt's team-high 30th RBI of the season became the decisive run, but the Giants added on in the seventh following a leadoff bunt single from Hernandez and a one-out sacrifice fly from Belt.
Hernandez was nearly thrown out at the plate earlier in the inning following an Evan Longoria single to left field, but he stopped in his tracks halfway down the third base line and retreated to the bag. While some runners disregard a stop sign from their third base coach, Hernandez actually pulled up after Ron Wotus waved him through.
The insurance run proved valuable, as southpaw Tony Watson allowed a pair of base hits against Cubs lefties Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo that netted the Cubs a run in the eighth. Watson's inning added to Saturday's drama, as he needed a sliding stab from Blanco in left field to rob a hit and also received a brilliant turn from Brandon Crawford on a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
The Giants needed to play excellent defense in the late stages of Saturday's game, as they counted on four frames of one-run ball from their bullpen as starter Chris Stratton allowed three earned runs in five innings of work.
Stratton hasn't pitched into the sixth inning in any of his last four starts and has now allowed 15 earned runs in his last 192/3 innings. But on Saturday, he exited with the lead thanks to a two-run rally in the top of the fifth.
The right-hander wasn't particularly sharp against the Cubs, but he limited the damage in a rough second inning that had the potential to put the Giants in a tough hole to dig out from.
Stratton allowed a leadoff walk and a single before falling behind in the count and issuing his second walk of the inning to Happ. With the bases loaded and no outs, the Giants starter rolled a groundball right back to the mound, and after a sudden challenge collecting the ball, Stratton fired home to record an out.
Though Stratton misfired on four straight offerings to Jason Heyward, a .220 hitter entering Saturday's contest, he induced a groundball double play from Quintana to end the inning.
Command remains an issue for Stratton, who allowed a pair of towering solo home runs against Chicago. Left fielder Kyle Schwarber launched a 437-foot blast into the right-field bleachers to extend the Cubs lead to 2-0 in the third inning before second baseman Javier Baez unloaded on a first-pitch slider with two outs in the fourth.
Baez's homer pushed the Cubs back out in front after Crawford, the hottest hitter in baseball in the month of May, deposited a game-tying two-run shot into the first row of the left-field bleachers in the fourth inning.
