White Sox bleach Cubs in rout at Wrigley |
CHICAGO — In the first meeting of the season between the North Siders and the South Siders, one team was clearly better than the other on the night. Getting annihilated 10-1 at their home ballpark, the Chicago Cubs (16-9) were routed 10-1 by the Chicago White Sox (16-11) in the opening installment of the 2020 Crosstown Classic. The White Sox pulverized Cubs pitching on Friday, racking up six home runs, including two yard balls hit by Jose Abreu. Cubs starter Jon Lester was outmatched in every way by fellow lefty Dallas Keuchel on the night, as the White Sox hurler tossed eight innings of one-run ball. Lester gave up eight runs on nine hits, four of which were homers, in 3 2/3 innings pitched at Wrigley Field, and Cubs manager David Ross opted to remove most of his starters in the middle innings. This place sure is friendly! pic.twitter.com/FKdNgvkh93 Inning-by-Inning Breakdown: T1: Lester actually fared well at the beginning of his woeful outing, recording three outs on 11 pitches in the top of the first. Score: White Sox 0, Cubs 0 B1: Keuchel answered Lester with a three up, three down inning of his own. Score: White Sox 0, Cubs 0 T2: Former Cubs prospect Eloy Jimenez kicked off the second by reaching base on an infield single. He was scored a few at-bats later, when Luis Robert skied a two-run blast to left. Score: White Sox 2, Cubs 0 Whatever he hits, he destroys. pic.twitter.com/1HNm9kxLZG B2: The Cubs failed to hit the ball out of the infield in a scoreless bottom of the second. Score: White Sox 2, Cubs 0 T3: Tim Anderson led off with a double, and Yasmani Grandal followed with a base knock. Abreu then skied his first round-tripper of the evening, with the three-run 409-footer sailing over the center field wall. Score: White Sox 5, Cubs 0 José doing José things. pic.twitter.com/sR5r09H6GB B3: The Cubs grounded out in three straight at-bats. Score: White Sox 5, Cubs 0 T4: Danny Mendick led off with a solo shot. Adam Engel reached base on an infield single and made it to second due to a fielding error committed by Javier Baez on the play. With two outs, Grandal crushed a two-run 441-foot bomb out to center. Score: White Sox 8, Cubs 0 Got Grand-all of that one. pic.twitter.com/fjQ5zlPftM B4: Baez notched the Cubs' first hit with a two-out single but was left stranded. Score: White Sox 8, Cubs 0 T5: The North Siders made a series of substitutions between innings. Dan Winkler, who replaced Lester to finish off the top of the fourth after Grandal went deep, pitched a scoreless fifth. Winkler struck out two batters in the frame. Score: White Sox 8, Cubs 0 B5: Keuchel kept the Cubs off the bases in the fifth. Score: White Sox 8, Cubs 0 T6: Ross made another series of substitutions prior to the sixth inning. Colin Rea tossed a scoreless frame. Score: White Sox 8, Cubs 0 B6: Hernan Perez started at second base for the Cubs, and he recorded his first hit as a North Sider when he drove the first pitch of the bottom half of the sixth into left field for a single. Albert Almora Jr. then moved Perez to third with a single of his own. Perez threatening to score from third on a nubber hit by Ian Happ resulted in Abreu and Keuchel botching what should have been an easy out, as neither could cleanly field the dribbler hit near first base. Abreu was charged with the error, which loaded the bases with no outs. Keuchel escaped the inning with his scoreless stat line still intact after benefiting from a Nico Hoerner foulout and forcing Baez to ground into an inning-ending double play. Score: White Sox 8, Cubs 0 T7: While manning left field, Perez made a nice snag of a hard-hit liner off Abreu's bat for the second out of the seventh. In the ensuing plate appearance, Jimenez smashed a massive home run versus his erstwhile club. The gargantuan two-out solo tater carried a whopping 466 feet beyond center field. David Bote committed a throwing error that allowed Edwin Encarnacion to reach second on a grounder. Rea, who was victimized by Jimenez's blast, struck Robert out to escape the inning without suffering any further damage. Score: White Sox 9, Cubs 0 Go ahead and say it for us. pic.twitter.com/hAs8D9aAq4 B7: Keuchel sat the Cubs down in order on just eight pitches. Score: White Sox 9, Cubs 0 T8: Kyle Ryan came out of the bullpen and pitched a scoreless eighth. Score: White Sox 9, Cubs 0 B8: Victor Caratini led off with a double, and an Almora base hit placed runners on the corners with one away. After Happ lined out to shortstop, Hoerner prevented the Cubs from getting skunked at home by plating Caratini on an RBI single to right. Keuchel walked Jason Kipnis to load the bases but remained in the game following a mound visit. Keuchel was able to draw the third out in the next at-bat, as Josh Phegley flied out. Score: White Sox 9, Cubs 1 T9: Jason Adam delivered a four-seamer that Abreu rocketed 452 feet out to center for his second tater of the matchup. The other three batters who faced Adam all struck out swinging. Score: White Sox 10, Cubs 1 B9: Prior to the bottom of the ninth, Jace Fry relieved Keuchel. He then secured the romp for the South Siders with a scoreless inning of work. Lester suffered his first losing decision of the summer, dropping to 2-1, and Keuchel earned the winning decision to improve to 4-2. Final Score: White Sox 10, Cubs 1 Statistical Breakdown: Chicago Cubs: Batting: 1 R, 7 H, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 2-Out RBI, 1 GIDP, 2-8 RISP, 7 LOB; Fielding: 2 E; Pitching: 12 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 6 HR, 0 HBP, 0 IBB, 0 WP Chicago White Sox: Batting: 10 R, 12 H, 1 2B, 6 HR, 10 RBI, 3 2-Out RBI, 3-7 RISP, 4 LOB; Baserunning: 1 SB; Fielding: 1 E, 1 DP; Pitching: 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 IBB, 0 WP Studs of the Game: Chicago Cubs: Victor Caratini (1B): 2-2, 1 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 2B Chicago White Sox: Jose Abreu (1B): 2-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 HR, 1-1 RISP, 1 E, 1 defensive assisted DP; Dallas Keuchel (SP): 8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 IBB, 0 WP; Yasmani Grandal (C): 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 2 2-Out RBI, 2-2 RISP; Adam Engel (RF): 3-4, 1 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 SB Duds of the Game: Chicago Cubs: Jon Lester (SP): 3.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 4 HR, 0 HBP, 0 IBB, 0 WP; David Bote (3B): 0-4, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 E Chicago White Sox: Edwin Encarnacion (DH): 0-5, 0 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K Up Next: Just like the series opener, game two will begin at 7:15 p.m. CDT. The contest on Saturday, Aug. 22, will be played on a hot, mostly clear night at 2060 West Addison Street. Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-2, 3.31) is slated to pitch against White Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (0-1, 54.00). Highlights: Final: White Sox 10, Cubs 1.
8/21: CHC vs. CWS
