San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval protests a strikeout call during the eighth inning of the Giants' 8-4 loss to the visiting Chicago Cubs on Monday. AP photo

SAN FRANCISCO — Pablo Sandoval’s surge continued. The San Francisco Giants’ winning streak did not.

Sandoval homered and drove in three runs before Jeff Samardzija shut down the Giants, leading the Chicago Cubs to an 8-4 victory Monday.

“We scored some runs off a very tough pitcher. It was an off day for us and the staff,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

Sandoval singled home a run in the first inning and hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Giants, who had won four in a row. Sandoval has five home runs and 12 RBIs in his last eight games.

But the rest of the Giants struggled at the plate — and on the mound.

Samardzija (1-4) struck out a season-high 10 for his first win since last August. He allowed six hits and walked none in seven-plus innings.

Samardzija also had an RBI double during a three-run fourth to help snap his 16-start winless streak. The right-hander entered with six no-decisions in his first 10 outings this year despite leading the majors with a 1.46 ERA.

“He’s got gasoline in his arm,” Giants catcher Hector Sanchez said of Samardzija, whose fastball regularly reached 96 mph on the ballpark’s radar.

Former Giants outfielder Nate Schierholtz hit his first home run of the season and Darwin Barney drove in two runs to help the Cubs come back from a 3-1 deficit.

Yusmeiro Petit (3-2) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings while filling in for injured starter Matt Cain, who was scratched after exiting his last outing with a strained right hamstring. Petit struck out five and walked none.

“Petit was throwing very well. In the last inning he left a lot of pitches up,” Bochy said.

Left-hander David Huff, who struck out as a pinch hitter in the fifth, allowed four runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief. Bochy said he used Huff as a pinch hitter because he was worried that Sanchez (foul ball off mask) and left fielder Michael Morse (left calf tightness) might need to come out of the game in the late innings.

The Cubs just kept providing runs to back Samardzija’s long-sought victory.

Samardzija had not won since Aug. 24 at San Diego last season, mostly because of a lack of support from his lowly club. He has allowed more than two runs only twice this year, including Monday.

“Guys played amazingly out there for me (Monday), and I know they’ve been wanting it as much as I did,” Samardzija said.

Samardzija was pulled after Angel Pagan singled leading off the eighth. Justin Grimm got three outs and Neil Ramirez pitched a scoreless ninth.

Pablo Sandoval

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