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Cubs sweep Giants behind Wood's all-around performance

Jul 29, 2013 - 12:59 AM San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Welington Castillo clubbed a tie-breaking solo homer in the seventh to back a solid all-around effort from starter Travis Wood, as the Chicago Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 2-1 triumph Sunday at AT&T Park.

Wood (7-7) struck out seven while yielding an unearned run on four hits and four walks over seven stellar frames to notch the victory.

"Somehow we pitched good enough," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "We didn't score a ton of runs, obviously didn't do a lot offensively, but that just goes to show you what we talk about starting pitching."

The 26-year-old left-hander also homered and finished with two of the five hits for the Cubs, who secured their first three-game sweep of the Giants in San Francisco since Sept. 13-15, 1993.

Tim Lincecum (5-11) took a hard-luck loss after giving up two runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts over seven innings.

Lincecum collected two of San Francisco's five hits while Pablo Sandoval plated the lone run of the game for the Giants, who have lost seven of their last eight games.

"In all my years I haven't seen a team quite go through such a hard time getting runs in like we're having right now," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's a shame because we've got great pitching."

With his offense struggling to put anything together over the first four frames, Wood took matters into his own hands in the fifth when he lifted a drive into the left-field seats to break a scoreless tie.

San Francisco answered in the home half, as Lincecum led off with a single before Andres Torres reached when his grounder to third was booted by Luis Valbuena.

Marco Scutaro followed with a single to load the bases, but Wood got Buster Posey to ground into a 5-2 double play.

The Cubs' left-hander was unable to escape unscathed however, as Sandoval scorched a double to left to score Scutaro and tie the game at 1-1.

Castillo picked up his batterymate in the seventh, when he launched a two-out solo shot into the bleachers in left to give the Cubs a 2-1 edge.

Wood then retired the Giants in order in the home half before Pedro Strop spun a scoreless eighth to get the ball to Chicago closer Kevin Gregg, who retired the first two hitters in the ninth before walking pinch-hitter Kensuke Tanaka.

With pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco at the plate, Tanaka swiped second and alertly moved to third when Castillo's throw skipped into center field.

However, Gregg left Tanaka stranded 90 feet away when he got Blanco to pop out to shortstop to nail down his 22nd save of the season.

Game Notes

San Francisco went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and finished the series a woeful 4-for-23 with RISP ... The Giants have gone eight straight games without hitting a home run ... Wood improved to 1-2 in five career starts against the Giants ... San Francisco wrapped up a 10-game homestand at 3-7 ... Chicago finished a 10-game roadtrip at 6-4.