Crowd pleaser: Another statement game by PCA sends Cubs to easy win over White Sox
The Chicago baseball rivalry never really fades.
The Cubs and White Sox are rarely in playoff contention at the same time — almost never, to be accurate — so it's not really a high-stakes kind of rivalry. This is more of a, “One team is doing pretty good, can the other rain on the parade,” type of existence.
So Friday's City Series opener at Wrigley Field fit right in line with tradition, and the underdog White Sox tried to make some noise, jumping ahead 2-0 on a Miguel Vargas first-inning home run.
But the momentum changed quickly and permanently when Pete Crow-Armstrong blasted his 12th home run of the season, a 3-run shot in the second inning. The Cubs went on to post an easy 13-3 victory.
“It's nice seeing the crosstown fans leave early,” Crow-Armstrong said after the game.
This was another all-star statement performance for PCA. Back in the leadoff spot, he went 4-for-5 with the home run and 6 RBI. Heading into the Friday evening MLB slate, Crow-Armstrong was tied for seventh in home runs and tied for third in RBI. He's also fifth in stolen bases, though he didn't do any of that Friday.
Seiya Suzuki (2 doubles, 2 RBI) actually holds the team lead in RBI with 37 and trailed only Aaron Judge in all of MLB as of Friday afternoon.
Crow-Armstrong credited teammate Justin Turner for providing motivation, particularly on his 2-run single in the seventh.
“He knows how to say the right things at the right time,” PCA said of Turner. “It could have been very easy for anybody to go up there for the fifth, sixth time today, maybe not the same way they would at the start of the game. He just reminded me that I've still got another at-bat that is equally as important as the first one.”
The White Sox had a prodigious hitter of their own in Vargas, who went 4-for-4 with 2 home runs, a double and all 3 of the team's RBI. The Sox finished with 11 hits, but not enough slug beyond Vargas.
The lopsided final score made this largely irrelevant, but the Sox were their own worst enemy during the Cubs' 6-run second inning. It began with a Michael Busch single and Carson Kelly ground-rule double. Even in the second inning, with the wind blowing out, Sox manager Will Venable chose to play the infield in, which proved costly.
With one out, Moises Ballestros and Nico Hoerner punched soft groundballs to the infield. First baseman Andrew Vaughn threw home on the first one, but Busch made a nice slide to beat the tag. Then shortstop Chase Meidroth would have nailed Kelly at the plate, but catcher Matt Thaiss dropped the ball, and again everyone was safe.
Two batters later, Crow-Armstrong crushed the 3-run homer to right. A Kyle Tucker triple and Suzuki double tacked on another run.
All told, just 1 of the 6 runs were earned, and starter Shane Smith could have gotten out of the inning with a single run allowed if the Sox had just taken the easy outs at first base on the two fielder's choice grounders. Smith technically recorded 4 outs before the PCA home run, since he also struck out Jon Berti.
“We've been pretty aggressive playing in,” Venable said. “That's just kind of our mindset. We're really trying to limit runs. I've been more regretful when we've been back and you get a little dribbler and it feels like a free run. So that's kind of our style, we just believe in being aggressive playing the infield.”
Smith seemed to lose steam during the long second but came back to finish five innings and keep his season ERA at 2.05.
“My job is to pick up the infielders when stuff doesn't go their way,” Smith said. “My job is to make pitches. What happens when the ball's in play is not entirely up to me, so I've just got to keep making pitches for those guys.
“I think I flushed it going into the third. My job is to not throw two innings and pout and whine. I've got to go out there and try for a five (innings) at least.”
Pitcher Cade Horton completed 5 innings for the Cubs to record his second straight win in his Wrigley debut. Ballesteros snagged his first career hit in the eighth inning, a line drive to right that scored a run.