Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (3/16/25): Cubs 4, Yomiuri Giants 2 – Cubs Topple Giants in Tokyo

The Cubs battled the Yomiuri Giants in their home stadium, the Tokyo Dome, Sunday morning in a final exhibition before the regular season begins against the Dodgers Tuesday. All of the offensive action in this one happened in a single inning and Chicago came out on top to earn the win.

Jameson Taillon made the start and kept the Giants off the board through the first four frames, but the North Siders failed to generate anything either and the score remained tied. Pete Crow-Armstrong kicked off a 5th-inning rally with a double and a stolen base before coming home on a Gage Workman RBI single.

The Cubs added three more in the frame via a wild pitch and a two-run bases-loaded single by Matt Shaw to make it a 4-0 game. Taillon hit his pitch count and was pulled with a man on first and one out in the bottom of the 5th. Daniel Palencia came on in relief and surrendered a double to Kazuma Okamoto to knock in a pair and cut the margin in half to 4-2.

That was all the action on Sunday as the score did not change the rest of the game. Matthew Boyd tossed four shutout frames for Chicago to save the 4-2 victory. (Box score)

Key Moment

Shaw’s hit was the big blow in the 5th and turned out to be the winning margin for the Cubs on Sunday.

Why the Cubs Won

They got outstanding pitching from two members of the starting rotation to help lock down the victory.

Stats That Matter

• Taillon will probably get one more exhibition start before making a regular season appearance but he looks ready: 4.1 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 4 K, and 2 BB.
• Boyd had his fastball consistently at 95 mph on the radar gun: 4 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 6 K, and 0 BB.
• Ian Happ had a single and a walk, and so did Shaw. They were the only Cubs players to reach base twice Sunday.

Bottom Line

The next game officially counts in the standings and pretty much everyone is in good shape and available to play. Let’s get the show on the road, folks.

On Deck

The Cubs are the designated home team in the regular season opener against the Dodgers at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday at 5:10am CT. It’s an all-Japanese starting pitching matchup between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shōta Imanaga, with television coverage on FOX and Marquee and radio coverage on 670 The Score.