The Cubs defeated the White Sox 3-1 on Saturday night. While it wasn’t the best performance, the team accomplished what it set out to do – sweep the season series against its cross-town rival for the first time since 2013.
The Sox scored first in the game, thanks in part to a rare error by Nico Hoerner on what should have been a routine ground ball. Nico simply kicked the ball away, possibly because Miguel Vargas, a speedy runner, was running down the line. A single, a fielder’s decision and another hit gave the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Justin Steele then held that position for six innings. Steele wasn’t at his best, but it was enough for six innings with 101 pitches (72 strikes). He managed eight strikeouts (VIDEO).
Here’s a recap of Steele’s outing (VIDEO).
While all this was happening, the Cubs wasted scoring opportunities, letting RISP trail in the first, third and fourth innings (a total of six LOBs in the first four innings) before finally breaking through in the fifth. With two outs, Cody Bellinger hit a single and Isaac Paredes got him with a double (VIDEO).
The tie remained until the seventh inning. A leadoff single by Dansby Swanson in the sixth inning was his 1,000th career hit (VIDEO).
Congratulations to Dansby on this milestone, even though he didn’t get to play. In the seventh inning, the Cubs again left a runner in scoring position after Michael Busch opened the inning with a walk.
Porter Hodge, who has recently become a reliable leverage reliever, threw a 1-2-3 seventh. He got help from Nico on this great pike catch (VIDEO).
The Cubs finally made the decisive breakthrough in the eighth inning. Hoerner started with a walk and Swanson brought him to second base with a single. Pete Crow-Armstrong sacrificed a base to both runners and then Miguel Amaya became the Cubs’ hitting hero of the evening (VIDEO).
Amaya’s two-run single, his second hit of the game, put the Cubs up 3-1. Another single by Ian Happ moved Amaya to third base, and then this happened (VIDEO).
After the Sox infield was retired, contact play began, and Michael Busch’s grounder to second base resulted in Amaya being ejected in a close play at the plate.
So it was up to the Cubs to get six outs with a two-run lead.
Jorge Lopez threw a scoreless eighth inning, although he allowed a single and a walk.
With the Cubs trailing 1-2-3 in the ninth inning, it was up to Heart Attack Hector Neris to score the win. Before that inning could begin, however, there were a few incidents on the field:
The start of the Cubs-Sox game in the second inning at Guaranteed Rate was delayed for about 5 minutes, first because someone ran onto the field and evaded security, and then a fan appeared to fall over the wall in the LCF. He can’t walk on one of his legs, so an ambulance had to come and drive him off the field.
– Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) 11 August 2024
Don’t do that, folks. It’s now a crime in Chicago to allow fans on the field.
Back to the game, Hector didn’t make it easy for himself when he dropped a throw to first base for what should have been a routine first out of the inning. But then Neris got Lenyn Sosa to fly out to center and struck out Luis Robert Jr. Robert, who is supposedly the Sox’s best player, is having a miserable year at bat and looked especially lost in this game, striking out three times.
That brought Andrew Benintendi into the picture, who had hit two home runs on Friday.
Here is the final end of the game (VIDEO).
I realize the clip ends pretty abruptly, but yes, Neris struck out Benintendi for his 17th save. Despite some high-wire acts, Neris has now converted seven consecutive save opportunities since June 29. And Hodge has recorded his first MLB win.
And as I said in the headline of this recap, the Cubs did everything right on Saturday night. They came into this series desperate to win both games, and they did just that. That made it four games in a row for the team and eight in their last 10. The Mets’ loss to the Mariners on Saturday drops the Mets out of the third wild-card spot, now occupied by the Braves, who coach the Cubs by 3.5 games. That may not seem like much, but there are three other teams ahead of them (Mets, Giants, Cardinals). A playoff spot is still an uphill battle, but at least the Cubs are playing well.
Here are Craig Counsell’s post-game comments (VIDEO).
Two interesting notes about this game and series from JohnW53 of BCB:
With the Cubs winning and the Sox losing, both teams are one game under .500 – the Cubs this year (59-60) and the Sox in all of their regular season games since play began in 1901 (9,581-9,582-103). This is the first time the Sox have been under .500 since June 17, 1956. The Cubs have never been under .500 in their 149-season history.
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This was only the second game since 1993 in which the Cubs finished with exactly nine hits and six walks while scoring just three runs, a 4-3 loss to the Mets in New York. They have played 19 such games since 1901, winning 10 and losing nine. Their previous victory was a 3-2 home victory against the Giants on September 6, 1991.
The Cubs will enjoy a rare Sunday off and then head to Cleveland for a three-game series against the Guardians. This could be a good time for the Cubs to face the Guardians, who lost seven straight games before beating the Twins on Saturday. Shōta Imanaga will start the series opener in Cleveland on Monday and the Guardians will counter with right-hander Ben Lively. Monday’s game begins at 5:40 p.m. CT and will be televised on Marquee Sports Network.
