SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants returned home after three games and faced one of baseball’s hottest pitchers in Marcus Stroman. But the Giants had one of his nemesis.

Joc Pederson came on with a .455 average, including four doubles in 11 at-bat against Stroman in his career. He added three hits to that tally on Friday, including a single that lasted a rally and hit his first run in the third inning. But Pederson’s championship wasn’t enough as they lost 3-2 to the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park on Friday night.

Pederson was instrumental in helping the Giants close a two-run deficit late in the seventh round. Brandon Crawford doubled on a drive down the right field line and moved up to third with an out, putting Pederson ahead and causing Cubs manager David Ross to pull Stroman.

Pederson’s fourth hit of the game came from substitute Mark Leiter Jr. with a dribbler that bounced off his stick at 63.3 mph. He was initially knocked out of the game by a hair’s breadth, but the call was overturned and Crawford’s quick home game made it a one-run game.

Anthony DeSclafani seemed to be on par with Stroman, keeping the Chicago Cubs to two hits in his first six innings while the Giants limited one run to Stroman. But a difficult inning brought him down.

Seiya Suzuki amassed his second hit of the night – reaching base four times – to start the inning, and Ian Happ walked to put the deciding run into goal position, prompting manager Gabe Kapler to pull his starter out of the to take game. Unable to upset DeSclafani, reliever Ryan Walker pitched to Matt Mervis to weight the bases and gave Nico Hoerner a green-ahead single. Tucker Barnhart added another run on single to flat midfield to give the Cubs the run that gave them the game.

DeSclafani went through six innings, allowing two runs with three hits, four walks, and two strikeouts.

JD Davis was left out of the lineup before the game due to hip strains, but Patrick Bailey hit a pinch late in the ninth inning. A double win began in the ninth inning, this time with no comeback magic.

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With Aaron Judge traveling to San Francisco to hear the best pitch possible from the San Francisco Giants in their pursuit of the coveted free agent slugger, Giants outfielder Joc Pederson took to social media to give his best pitch to Judge as well.

Joc Pederson sends a message to Aaron Judge about joining San Francisco Giants

Pederson, who just rejoined the San Francisco Giants by accepting a qualifying offer, took to Instagram to send his hopes to Judge, a native of northern California, that he will make the move from the Yankees to the Giants.

The Giants’ Joc Pederson (@yungjoc650) posted this on his Instagram: pic.twitter.com/jIXD89ifZg

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) November 23, 2022

San Francisco and New York are rumored to be two of the most likely destinations for Judge, who set the American League record with 62 home runs this season. It could be a battle between coasts for his services, with the Giants looking to make a major step toward reclaiming the National League West title they won over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021.

Judge, however, has only played for the Yankees during his seven-year MLB career, lending plenty of reasoning to why he might choose to stay in the Bronx.

Whichever team lands Judge will pay a hefty price for his services. Judge rejected a seven-year, $213.5 million contract extension from the Yankees in spring training and is expected to land a contract this offseason north of $300 million.

Pederson will be in his second year with the Giants after slashing .274/.353/.521 with 23 home runs and 70 RBI on his way to earning an All-Star Game bid last season. Pederson played in the outfield 114 games last season, with the vast majority of that time spent in left field. If Judge lands with the Giants, it’s expected he would play center or right field, boosting San Francisco’s outfield in a big way.

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