A few hours before first pitch, the former No. 1 global prospect in baseball gave a few minutes of his time to an independent White Sox blog that gets clubhouse access through a peculiarity of the credentialing process, and discussed performance and aggression against fastballs as a function of mentality.
"If you're geared up for a fastball and get something off speed, you're gonna probably look bad sometimes," Benintendi reasoned. "But I think the reward of it is better than missing fastball, and kind of being in between that and an offspeed pitch."
When the game started, Benintendi put words into action. He drilled 96 mph center-cut fastball from Cubs starter Ben Brown for a first-inning solo shot. And seven innings later, after two-out hits from Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth, he pulverized a grooved 1-1 heater from reliever Ryan Brasier for a three-run blast into the opposing bullpen.
"It starts with Tauchman getting a two-out knock, then Meidroth hitting the double, put me in position there to potentially do damage," Benintendi said. "I got a fastball, and I turned on it."
Both blasts only served to draw Sox within a run, as Benintendi's teammates had a way of collecting enough mistakes to stay out of range.
Colson Montgomery had a day at third where he looked talented but unfamiliar with the territory. His length and athleticism shone as he extended to snag a Carson Kelly lineout in foul territory in the seventh, but that was sandwiched between a pair of errors. He booted a fairly ordinary grounder to his forehand side to turn the second inning into a 29-pitch ordeal for Sean Burke, and was caught on the train tracks when Ian Happ was snagged in a rundown that should have ended the top of the eighth. Montgomery was called for obstruction as he and Happ collided in the baseline, with the former trying to retrieve Edgar Quero's throw, plating a fifth Cubs run that would ultimately prove decisive.
"Just trying to get the guy close to third base and I saw when I get the chance to throw the ball, I threw it," Quero said. "I think Colson maybe was a little close to him, but it's part of the game."
"Two rundowns where we really didn’t execute either of them," said Will Venable, zooming out to the origins of the play, where Nico Hoerner was hung up by a backpick at first that spurred Happ to try to score. "[Miguel Vargas has] got to do a better job of getting Hoerner going. First of all, nice job on the back pick, but Vargy’s got to get him going, [Lenyn Sosa has] got to cut the distance. And then obviously you can’t have an obstruction call. We’ve got to do a better job on the second rundown, too. We know if you don’t execute plays like that it’s going to hurt you."
Grant Taylor didn't not have it as an opener, so much as he didn't pitch well enough to be insulated against some random baseball stuff happening. Kyle Tucker banged a fastball for a one-out double after some close calls gave him a hitter's count, before Taylor couldn't land a curve to avoid a six-pitch walk to Seiya Suzuki. That set up a situation where, when Pete Crow-Armstrong's off-timed swing on a first-pitch curveball sprayed a weak bleeder to a vacated left side of the infield, it slowly rolled to shallow left for a two-run double.
While Burke was spared tussling with the top of the Cubs order in the first, he found himself laboring through a very similar type of inning. He had to pitch over the first of two Montgomery fielding errors to strand two runners in the second, before weaving around a Crow-Armstrong double and a walk to strand another pair in the third, which already put him at 53 pitches. Burke struck out a season-high eight behind an exceptionally hoppy fastball, but also out of virtual necessity to keep the Cubs close.
If he wasn't out of gas by the sixth, he still didn't have quite enough to make it appear otherwise. Nico Hoerner was able to flatten his barrel out to serve a high fastball to right-center for a two-out RBI single, and scored from first when Matt Shaw ripped a hanging slider down the left field line on Burke's 91st pitch of the day to put the Cubs up 4-1 in the sixth. For the second straight day, a flurry from the bottom of the North Side order placed them in command.
"If I’m able to clean that up, then we win that game instead of losing it by one run," Burke said. "We are playing a lot better ball lately and we all care about this game a lot. We know the fan bases care about it a lot. It’s a sense of pride being able to beat them. It’s frustrating not being able to get it done this year but luckily we see them next year and the year after that."
Benintendi pulling and elevating middle-middle 96 mph from Brown for a first-inning solo shot suggested a return to the fastball-hunting version of the Sox offense, but that would be the only mark against the Cubs right-hander in easily his best start in over a month. Brown piled up whiffs and rollovers with a hard knuckle curve, and the only sustained threat he faced over five innings was unmade by a Lenyn Sosa brain fart.
After Sosa and Brooks Baldwin led off the third with back-to-back singles, Meidroth popped up with a pair of runners on and one out. The play triggered the infield fly rule, so Hoerner let it drop on the off chance that someone would be foolhardy enough to think the force play was still in effect. Sure enough, Sosa was the lead runner and was easily gunned down at third to end the inning.
"That’s a play we talk about a lot and he just got stuck a little bit of a mental error there where he didn’t see the call being made," Venable said. "But that’s kind of an automatic one where you know that ball is out. He’s got to do a better job on that and he knows that and we discussed it."
The Sox offense ended the day 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position, on an afternoon where a seventh at-bat really might have come in handy.
Bullet points:
*Luis Robert Jr. took a Daniel Palencia fastball off his right forearm. X-rays were negative but he was still receiving treatment postgame.
*The Sox have lost 10 of their last 11 games against the Cubs, which has generally not been regarded as a good time.
*A 25-31 finish to the season will be needed to avoid a third-straight 100-loss campaign.
*Benintendi overtook Vargas for the team lead in homers with 13.
