CHICAGO — Freddy Garcia and Doug Davis couldn’t crack your windshield with fastballs thrown while standing on the hood, but yesterday at Wrigley Field, the soft-tossing veterans employed smarts and painted the black to handcuff two good lineups.
The difference was a rocky beginning for the Yankees’ Garcia, who gave up two runs in the first inning and another in the third and absorbed a 3-1 loss to the Cubs in front of 42,219 sun-splashed customers.
The Yankees’ first game at the baseball shrine since 2003 — and Joe Girardi’s first game at the ballpark he called home for seven of his 15 seasons in the majors since he managed the Marlins in 2006 — resulted in their first loss in the four games Derek Jeter has missed with a calf injury.
Davis, a 35-year-old left-hander, is the definition of a journeyman. He started the day with a 91-106 career record and was 0-5 with a 5.90 ERA in six games this season after signing with the Cubs on April 11. Against the Yankees, he was 3-2 with a hefty 6.28 ERA in six starts.
Nothing indicated he had enough to handle the muscular Yankees with an 83-mph fastball and marginal off-speed pitches.
Yet, he did.
“He can be frustrating for hitters,” Cubs catcher Koyie Hill said of Davis, who allowed a run and three hits in 71⁄3 innings for his first victory as a starter since May 5 of last year. “Hitters have to wait for him.”
That wait can be annoying, especially when Davis was not only on the black, but getting a little help from plate umpire Greg Gibson.
“He seemed to live on the edge with a number of different pitches and he changed speeds,” Girardi said of Davis, who didn’t allow a hit until Robinson Cano’s two-out single in the fourth. “He’s a big league pitcher and it’s going to happen.”
Garcia got himself in trouble with a walk to Kosuke Fukudome to start the game. That was followed by Starlin Castro’s double that got by Curtis Granderson and drove in Fukudome. Aramis Ramirez then brought home Castro with a one-out single.
Garcia (5-6) did well to give up just one run in the third when Castro doubled to start the frame and Blake DeWitt and Ramirez followed with singles. Garcia retired the next three hitters to get out of the inning.
“They were sitting on my slider and split,” said Garcia, who allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings. “I had to be more aggressive and I had a good fastball.”
Garcia retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced.
Little did anyone realize the three runs were going to get Garcia beat.
The Yankees wasted a leadoff walk to Brett Gardner in the third when Nick Swisher was called out on a very questionable 2-2 pitch and Granderson grounded out on a check swing with Gardner on second.
In the fourth, Gardner was on second and Swisher on first with two outs, and Granderson struck out.
Swisher doubled with one out in the eighth to chase Davis and scored on Mark Teixeira’s two-out single off reliever Sean Marshall to cut the deficit to 3-1. But closer Carlos Marmol got Alex Rodriguez to swing through a 90-mph fastball for the final out.
A one-out walk to Russell Martin and a two-out single by Gardner gave the Yankees life in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Chris Dickerson was completely overmatched by Marmol for the final out.
“I think he’s a guy you may feel more comfortable with the more you face him,” Rodriguez said of Marmol, whose filthy slider is the reason for his 14 saves. “The first time today, it was tough.”
The same could be said about getting beat by Davis, a poor man’s Jamie Moyer.
george.king@nypost.com