With another cold front bringing more precipitation to Chicago, the White Sox and Cubs didn’t have the same ideal playing conditions as they had last night. It appeared the weather would play in favor for Lucas Giolito and Jon Lester as the over/under line was set at seven runs total for the game.
The offenses had a different idea. On the very first pitch of the game, Leury Garcia took Lester deep for a 429-foot home run giving the Sox an early 1-0 lead.
On Giolito’s first pitch, Kyle Schwarber hit a line drive off the ivy in right field for a double. Then problems continued for Giolito walking Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez to load the bases. James McCann tried to get Giolito back on track after a mound visit, but on a 1-2 changeup that caught way too much of the plate, Willson Contreras smashed it for a Grand Slam.
Giolito would strikeout David Bote and Lester looking to end the first inning, but 34 pitches and a crooked number on the scoreboard put the White Sox in a deep hole. There was a chance for Giolito to help himself after Yolmer Sanchez hit his first triple in 2019 with two outs, but Lester threw a curve on a 1-2 count that Giolito swung through ending the second inning.
After a scoreless second inning, it appeared that Giolito was back on track with two outs in the third inning, but Contreras tagged him again for his second home run of the night to make it 5-1.
The Sox would mount a rally to start the fourth inning. James McCann hit his seventh home run of 2019 to lead it off making it 5-2. Eloy Jimenez worked a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch for Yoan Moncada. After not swinging right-handed yesterday, Moncada’s back was alright enough to hit a double down the left field line scoring Jimenez and making it a 5-3 game.
With one out, Sanchez hit a dribbler down to the third base in which Kris Bryant fielded in front of the bag. What made this play odd is Moncada was running towards third which Bryant could have just tagged him for the second out and an embarrassing TOOTBLAN. Instead, Bryant threw across the diamond, but Sanchez beat it out for an infield single. Sanchez would get himself to second base swiping his third base in 2019.
Giolito showed bunt but didn’t put the ball in play striking out for the second time, leaving it up to Garcia with two outs to tie the game. In another bizarre ruling from the home plate umpire, Garcia hit a chopper in front of the plate that hit him in the chest. On television replay, Garcia did not leave the batter’s box yet so the ruling should have been a foul ball. However, home plate umpire Corey Blaser decided that Garcia was out of the batter’s box and called Garcia out.
Sure enough, in the Cubs half, David Bote tacked on the Cubs third home run of the night to make it 6-3. Giolito would come back to strike out the side again without any more damage, but the Cubs were in control halfway through the game.
Leaving in the fifth inning, Giolito had a weird pitching line of 4.1 IP 7 H 6 ER 3 BB 9 K with Contreras doing the majority of the damage.
Once the bullpens got involved the runs stopped. Josh Osisch, Juan Minaya, and Kelvin Herrera combined to throw 2.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and only two hits allowed. Cubs relievers Kyle Ryan, Brad Brach, and Mike Montgomery almost matched those numbers pitching 2.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts and two hits allowed.
One of those hits was by Moncada batting left-handed with a triple down the right-field line against Brach, but he was stranded there as pinch-hitter Charlie Tilson could only muster a weak chopper back to the mound for a 1-3 groundout.
Cubs tacked on another run in the eighth inning when Schwarber hit a sharp double the right-field line off Jose Ruiz. Addison Russell scored all the way from first base, but the inning ended when Abreu cut off Tilson’s throw to nail Schwarber on his way to third base.
In the ninth inning, Zack Collins made his MLB debut facing Steve Cishek. Working the count to full, Collins watched a 90-mph fastball rise out of the zone to draw a walk. He’ll need to wait for his first official at-bat in Texas as Cishek struck out Garcia and got Anderson to fly out to center field closing the game.
Game Notes:
- Yoan Moncada went 2-for-4 with a double and triple, and Yolmer Sanchez had a great night going 3-for-4.
- Tim Anderson made a poor decision on the basepaths. Leading off the fifth inning with a double, Anderson tried to steal third base off Lester. Getting a good jump didn’t matter much as Contreras made a perfect throw to nail Anderson for the first out with Abreu, McCann, and Jimenez coming up to bat.
Record: 35-37 | Box Score | Highlights
