Schwarber gets back in swing of things

Kyle Schwarber saw his first game action for the Cubs since Sept. 10 as he served as the designated hitter and went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts in a 10-4 loss to the White Sox Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Schwarber injured his back Sept. 5 at Milwaukee and saw limited action over the following few days.

"I felt good, just being out there on the field and being able to get in the box," he said. "I've got a little bit more work to do with the timing, but I felt like it kept getting better and better each at-bat. Just continue to keep working on that, and good things are going to happen."

When asked when he felt his timing might be back, he had a snappy answer.

"Hopefully tomorrow, right?" he said with a laugh. "So, tomorrow."

Taking what they can get:

The Cubs flew overnight from Phoenix to Chicago after Wednesday night's series finale at Arizona, where they won two of three.

Even though Thursday's off-day felt like only a partial day off, the players seemed glad for it.

"It was great," said first baseman Anthony Rizzo. "It was hard to sleep last night not having to come down from a game. It was like withdrawal. It was nice to have a day off, especially at home."

Praise for Quintana:

The White Sox beat their former left-handed ace, Jose Quintana, on Friday. But he was a mainstay of the Sox rotation since 2012, and team members had good things to say about him.

"He was a lot of heart," said Sox manager Rick Renteria. "He went out there every five days and gave you what he had. He was another kid that, if I remember well, we didn't give him a whole lot of run support. Kept us in the ballgame, gave us a lot of quality starts and just as professional as you can be, a quality person and performer. He's a quality individual across the board."

Quintana was bested by White Sox starter Reynaldo Lopez.

"Yes, we met last year as teammates," Lopez said. "I didn't know that I was facing him today until this morning when I got the lineup and I though 'Oh, I'm going to face him.' It's always a good feeling when you're facing a guy like him. He was a very good teammate with me and when you're facing another Latino, it's always an extra excitement there, especially when you're facing a guy like him, it's good. It's a good feeling."