After a sluggish start to 2026, San Franciscco Giants' Matt Chapman exploded for eight RBIs at Wrigley Field, matching a legendary franchise record.
The San Francisco Giants expected more from Matt Chapman entering 2026.
To say that Chapman had a slow start to the season would be a massive understatement. On May 31 (after 58 games), the veteran third baseman had just one home run, while his batting average and OPS remained well below expectations for a player that was supposed to anchor the lineup.
Friday at Wrigley Field looked like the version of Chapman the Giants believed they were getting.
San Francisco rolled to an 18-3 win over the Chicago Cubs, and Chapman delivered one of the most productive offensive performances in franchise history.
He finished 2-for-3 with two home runs, a sacrifice fly, and a career-high eight RBIs.
The performance placed him in rare company. According to TSN, since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920, only Phil Weintraub with 11 in 1944 and Irish Meusel with nine in 1925 have recorded more RBIs in a single game for the Giants franchise.
Chapman’s eight tied for third-most.
He also matched the San Francisco-era franchise record for RBIs in a game, joining Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Brandon Crawford, Joc Pederson, and Wilmer Flores. Mays became the first Giants player to reach eight RBIs in a game after the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958.
The turning point came in the fourth inning.
Chapman launched the fourth grand slam of his career off Cubs starter Edward Cabrera as part of a six-run inning.
He followed with a sacrifice fly in the fifth before adding a 432-foot three-run home run in the sixth during a seven-run frame.
The two-home run performance doubled his season total to four and raised his RBI count to 31.
After the game, Chapman explained that he did not realize he had set a career high in RBIs until afterward.
He explained that the grand slam gave the lineup momentum and described the game as one where the entire offense continued feeding off the energy and building from there.
Chapman also addressed his difficult start to the season.
He acknowledged the results had not matched expectations early but pointed to recent performances as confirmation that his approach is moving in the right direction.
According to Chapman, the focus has been simplifying at-bats, making stronger decisions at the plate, and capitalizing on pitches he should attack.
The timing could matter for San Francisco.
“That was awesome,” Chapman told Giants Postgame Live on NBC Sports Bay Area. “It was great to, obviously, hit that grand slam and kind of get us out in front a little bit there. I feel like everybody just kept piling it on from there. So that was a lot of fun.”
Friday’s victory extended the Giants’ winning streak to three games, matching their longest stretch of the season.
Over their last two games, they have scored 30 runs while collecting 39 hits, including a 20-hit performance against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.
Power production has become a major part of that surge.
Chapman’s grand slam marked the Giants’ second in consecutive games and their sixth over the last 18 games.
That stretch made San Francisco only the sixth team in major league history to hit six grand slams across a 20-day span.
For a team sitting at 26-38, well below .500, performances like this serve as a reminder of the talent still present on the roster.
The consistency has not been there.
On Friday, however, Chapman delivered exactly the type of performance the Giants envisioned when they brought him in.
Two home runs.
Eight RBIs.
A place in franchise history.
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