It took two pitches for Chase Meidroth to tell everybody what Shota Imanaga had tonight.
After missing with a fastball to start the White Sox's portion of the evening, he grooved another heater to Meidroth, who lined it over the White Sox bullpen to set the tone, rather than the table.
"There’s a lot of build up for that game obviously with the crosstown rivalry," Meidroth said. "We were fired up."
The White Sox knocked around Imanaga for seven runs on 12 hits over three innings and two batters. Colson Montgomery (for the third straight game) and Austin Slater joined him with homers in the second and fourth innings, respectively, and the White Sox filled in the gaps between blasts with plenty of productive line drives.
Imanaga came into the game with a 2.40 ERA, but that version was nowhere to be seen. This one was missing nearly two ticks on his fastball, and threw a splitter that only split the plate. The White Sox trashed both pitches, as 15 of their 19 batted balls qualified as hard-hit, with nine of them clearing 100 mph.
"Whenever Chase goes deep, I think everyone gets really excited," Slater said. "Not that he can't, I think it just hasn't happened a whole lot. He's our spark plug and when he goes we go."
Luis Robert Jr. wasn't in the lineup due to a sore adductor, but the only loss was his. Everybody else in the lineup took the opportunity to pad their stats. Every starter had at least one hit, and Robert's replacement was the only one without an RBI (but Michael A. Taylor still notched a double, and made a nice catch on the warning track in left center).
Old Chris Flexen couldn't help matters, either. He's had a productive year for the Cubs in long relief, but he gave up a two-run shot to Mike Tauchman after entering for Imanaga in the fourth, and then gave up a pair of RBI singles by Edgar Quero and Miguel Vargas in the fifth.
"Pretty good night for everybody, not just for me," Quero said of his four-hit night. "I know these guys. We can hit."
In what's likely to be his last start with the White Sox, Adrian Houser got back on the Quality Start Wagon, cruising through six shutout innings with his brand of unassuming effectiveness. He generated just three strikeouts and three whiffs over 6⅔ innings, but that was besides the point. After a stumble against the Pirates, he was back to dictating the terms with a 95-mph sinker, with an ability to get the Cubs to hit themselves into quick innings. He twice retired the side in order, twice ended an inning with a double play, and twice limited the traffic to a two-out single. Before anybody knew it, he was through six innings on just 60 pitches.
It didn't get hairy for him until the seventh, when he opened the inning with his second and third walks of the game, and couldn't close it before Reese McGuire hit a three-run bomb to get the Cubs on the board. It just didn't matter because the White Sox were leading 11-0 at the start of the inning.
"The only one pitch I want back is the home run ball," Houser said. "I told myself in my head, 'Don't throw the fastball here,' but just went with it thinking I could get a ground ball with the way the sinker was going tonight. Overall, [Quero and I] were on the same page, we were attacking. We were making them hit our pitches and swing at our pitches."
McGuire then singled home the Cubs' fourth run as they staged a last-minute stand against Steven Wilson in the ninth. He would've been responsible for all runs driven in, but Wilson walked Kyle Tucker with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth to give somebody else a shred of glory.
Bullet points:
*Houser's month-old daughter was in attendance to see her dad pitch for the first time, and with that and a likely departure via trade mounting, the veteran right-hander became emotional postgame while reflecting on an eventful season.
"It's been a tough year for us, with the bouncing around and being away from each other, but we're fighting through it and having them here means a lot," Houser said. "[The White Sox have] given me the opportunity to pitch in the big leagues again. Just trying to get that opportunity and very thankful that I was able to get that opportunity here, and from that day I didn't want to let it go to waste. So I'm working my butt off and putting my work in everyday and don't want to go back to the minor leagues. I want to stay up here and keep pitching up here."
*Jon Berti pitched in the eighth, allowing the 12th and final run in the form of Josh Rojas, who drew a one-out walk, moved to third on Lenyn Sosa's double and scored on a Brooks Baldwin groundout.
*Quero answered Kyle Teel's four-hit game with one of his own, going 4-for-5 with a double from the third spot in the order.
*Other White Sox hitters who ate: Mediroth and Slater combined to go 5-for-10 with two homers and six runs scored, and Vargas continued heating up with a 3-for-4 night from the fifth spot.
*The White Sox outhit the Cubs 18-9, out-extra-base-hit the Cubs 7-2, and went 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
*The White Sox are now 6-1 in the second half, outscoring opponents 61-27.
