CHICAGO — The Giants did what they couldn’t a day earlier: They plated the automatic runner placed at second base to begin extras and prevented the Cubs from doing the same in their turn to bat.

And, in doing so, so did Keaton Winn.

Winn, who allowed the walkoff blast to Pete Crow-Armstrong the previous afternoon, got the Cubs star to ground out with the winning run on third base to end the ninth and keep the score tied at 1.

Jonah Cox, in as a pinch-runner, raced home on an opposite-field single from Matt Chapman to begin the 10th for only the Giants’ second run of the game that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win Sunday night.

“I’ll be danged if it doesn’t come up where the game’s on the line and those two go at it,” manager Tony Vitello said of the rematch between Winn and PCA. “That’s what you tune in for is moments like that, and he did a tremendous job.”

Chapman’s RBI single was only the Giants’ fourth hit of the night and their first since the fourth inning, completely stymied by Javiar Assad, who only entered the game after Jameson Taillon strained his hamstring one batter into the second inning.

Dylan Smith, one of the only arms left in the Giants’ bullpen, struck out Michael Conforto to begin the bottom of the 10th and worked around a stolen base that put the tying run on third and forced the infield in with one out to earn his first career save.

The Giants’ bullpen, which had a 9.35 ERA in nine previous games on the road trip, threw five shutout innings behind Trevor McDonald, who left the game after five innings with the score tied at 1.

“You can’t say enough about the way Schmitty came in at the end and threw,” Vitello said. “We haven’t really had defined roles. It’s kind of been organized chaos. Tonight was a good example of all guys did was take the ball in whatever situation and do what they needed to do.”

Offensively, the Giants were in action early against Taillon, who walked Rafael Devers and allowed him to come around to score on an opposite-field single from Jung Hoo Lee to open a 1-0 lead.

But as soon as Assad entered, the Giants went silent.

“I don’t know that Assad even had his jersey on and all of a sudden he’s got to go,” Vitello said. “I’ve seen it so many times where that guy has a phenomenal outing because you don’t overthink it.”

Assad allowed only three Giants to reach base while tossing 6 ⅓ shutout innings of surprise relief, putting the Cubs in position to break the 1-1 tie in the eighth.

A walk and an error by Erik Miller had put runners at the corners with nobody out, but pinch-runner Kevin Alcantara was doubled up at third on a broken-bat line drive that went straight to Devers, who fired across the diamond to Chapman at third.

“Rafi, he might not talk a lot, but he’s a smart baseball player,” Chapman said. “He knows the game and he pays attention, so I’m not surprised he knew what to do with the baseball there.”

They survived the eighth and got around a walk from Winn in the ninth that put the potential winning run in scoring position and brought Crow-Armstrong to the plate.

Winn learned from his previous losing battle and didn’t offer Crow-Armstrong a splitter in the strike zone.

“It felt like yesterday, he was obviously sitting on it,” Winn said. “Today, I just tried to attack him with heaters early and let the split play below the zone.”

The Cubs led the majors in walkoff wins, and the Giants had been walked off more than all but one other team, but their fortunes flipped in a late-night finale to their 10-game, three-city trip.

What it means

The Giants, one of the majors’ worst teams away from home with a 14-23 road record entering the game, finished off their first non-losing road trip since their first of the season.

“It’s not always about what the numbers say on the scoreboard,” Chapman said. “If we help each other out and finish strong down the stretch and figure out a way to turn this thing around, nobody’s going to remember the beginning part of the season.”

Who’s hot

Despite their struggles against Assad, the Giants should return home feeling good about the biggest bats in their order, which isn’t something that could be said for much of the season.

Before Taillon exited, Lee extended his hitting streak to 15 games — the longest active streak in the majors — and finished the trip batting .561 (23-for-41).

Bryce Eldridge also extended his on-base streak to 14 games and went 15-for-35 on the trip.

The much-maligned middle of the order has also come alive with Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman combining to drive in 32 runs on eight home runs and 10 other extra-base hits while batting a respectable .271.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be down forever,” said Chapman, who was responsible for 17 of the runs driven in. “It feels good to feel like I can contribute. As a team, we really need it right now. Our backs are against the wall a little bit. We need wins.”

Who’s not

The last time McDonald took the mound, he became the first Giants starter since his last turn in the rotation to complete five innings. This time around, another solid start from the rookie capped a suboptimal road trip from the rest of the pitching staff.

Despite their bats breaking out in a big way since they left home, the Giants still barely broke even over the 10 game, three-city trip.

“We left some stuff on the table,” Chapman said. “And we know that.”

Dating back to the start of the trip, the 6.49 ERA from Giants pitchers is the second-worst in the majors, ahead of only the Rockies, and it’s no secret what has been the biggest culprit.

The 55 walks issued over the course of the trip, including five more Sunday, were the most by any Giants team over a 10-game stretch since 2010, averaging out to almost two every three innings.

Up next

The Giants face an ultra-quick turnaround before hosting the Nationals on Monday to begin a six-game homestand. Logan Webb, who flew ahead of the team, gets the ball against Miles Mikolas and will be tasked with trying to hold in check the majors’ top run-scoring operation.