With the White Sox attempting to avoid a sweep while deploying an opener for the second straight game, the hope was that José Urquidy could copy Erick Fedde's 4⅔ shutout innings from the night before.
Urquidy ended up doing one -- or 1⅓ -- better, taking the baton after two scoreless innings from Sean Newcomb to throw six innings of near-perfect bulk work.
The Sox needed him to be that good, because they couldn't scratch Clay Holmes until the sixth, and didn't create actual breathing room until the eighth. Despite the tension, when the afternoon came to a close, everybody could breathe easier. Grant Taylor sealed the shutout with a high-octane ninth to stave off the sweep while ending an eight-game losing streak at Wrigley Field.
Perhaps everybody in the black alternate jerseys followed Urquidy's lead. He looked exceedingly comfortable with the wind blowing in, oftentimes staring at center field while the pitch clock ticked down, taking the mound with four seconds left and effectively walking into his windup. He toggled between his sinker, curveball and changeup with ease, grabbing first-pitch strikes with everything and mixing in a couple other pitches for an arsenal that covered a 23-mph velocity band.
He struck out the side around a one-out infield single in the third, and fanned eight of the first 10 batters he faced, which got the Sox through five.
Eventually the Cubs started making contact, and that's when the White Sox's gloves stepped up. First, when Tyrone Taylor started the sixth inning with a double, he then tried to tag up on Pete Crow-Armstrong's fly to medium-deep right. With Wrigley's pinched-in power alleys, "medium-deep" is relative, and Braden Montgomery had no problem making an on-target throw, on the fly, to get Taylor out at third by steps.
An inning later, Alex Bregman tried taking on the wind by driving a knee-high sinker to left field, but it stayed below the basket, and Sam Antonacci hauled it in with a leaping grap against the ivy. Urquidy kept the ball in the infield for another 1-2-3 inning. With just 57 pitches through five inning and a bullpen that needed all the relief a starter could offer, Will Venable sent out Urquidy for one more, and Urquidy once again retired the side in order on just 12 pitches.
He ended up retiring the last eight batters he faced without a strikeout, finshing with a stellar line -- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K -- that could go down as the most uplifting pitching performance of the season.
The White Sox overcame a tough Holmes, as well as some self-inflicted wounds, to change the scoreboard and make the stout pitching pay off.
Miguel Vargas led the way. First, he opened the sixth with a double down the left-field line, then made a great read on Andrew Benintendi's single to center and scored with ease for the game's first run.
Two innings later, he drew a one-out walk against Ryan Rolison, moved to third on Randal Grichuk's 370th pinch-hit double of the year, both runners came home when Braden Montgomery's hot shot glanced off the mitt of Busch at first and trickled down the right field line for a two-run double. From that point forward, the tying run never came to the plate.
Bullet points:
*Montgomery's assist and two-run double overwrote two outs on the basepaths. He was cut down on Colson Montgomery's swinging strike three for a SHOTHO in the fourth, then was picked off first base in the sixth.
*Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery each had some regrettable decisions swinging on 3-0. Murakami rolled over a pitcher's pitch in the first inning, and Montgomery chased three straight pitches out of the zone after getting ahead 3-0, with the last swing producing the front end of the aforementioned SHOTHO.
*Grichuk actually has just three pinch-hit doubles, but he's 10-for-37 with three homers and three doubles off the bench this season, so the impact is significant.
*Besides salvaging a season series split with the Cubs, the victory also halted Minnesota's progress. The Twins swept the Braves, but remain four whole games back.
