SAN FRANCISCO — As his teammates went crazy celebrating, Javier Baez needed a couple of minutes just to catch his breath after running like mad around the bases.
Baez hit an inside-the-park homer to back Jake Arrieta's 11th win and Chicago beat the Giants 5-3 on Monday night in the champion Cubs' first visit to AT&T Park since rallying to eliminate San Francisco in Game 4 of the NL Division Series last October.
"Little League, I guess," a grinning Baez said about the only time he had done that before.
Baez's 16th homer took a tricky bounce off the low wall in right-center and deflected past oncoming right fielder Carlos Moncrief nearly 100 feet back in the direction of the corner in right.