New Delhi, June 14 -- SAN FRANCISCO - Trevor McDonald had not thrown a ball, had not thrown a strike, had not shaken off a sign. He had done nothing but wind up and release. By the time Pete Crow-Armstrong's drive had cleared the center-field wall at Oracle Park, the Chicago Cubs had already answered the only question that mattered Saturday night.

The answer was 6-1. Chicago, going away.

Crow-Armstrong's leadoff homer on the first pitch of the game - his 12th of the season and his third in five days at Oracle Park - did not so much start the game as abbreviate it. By the time Ian Happ and Pedro Ramirez added back-to-back solo shots in the fifth inning, the Giants had been outscored 11-2 in two games and were staring down a series in whi...