White Sox hang on for 4-3 win, complete two-game sweep over Cubs
The weather was rough, the refurbished visiting clubhouse is still cramped and the majority in the crowd of 36,755 was pulling for the home team.
Still, the White Sox were probably a little sad to be saying so long to Wrigley Field for another year after hanging a 4-3 loss on the Cubs on Wednesday night.
The Sox swept the brief two-game interleague series and have won five in a row at Wrigley and 7 of 8 dating back to the 2020 season.
"It's always a good time, whether it's at Wrigley or our spot," said Lucas Giolito, who started for the White Sox Wednesday and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10 in 5⅔ innings. "It's a super fun series. The fans are getting into it, you know sometimes they'll get too much, but it's always entertaining to see.
"And just seeing the passion of the entire city, whether they're a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan packing out the stadium, that always makes for a great environment to play in."
It was a bit warmer on the North Side in Game 2 and the White Sox and Cubs each hit 2 home runs.
After Jose Abreu gave the Sox the early lead with a solo shot off starter Kyle Hendricks in the first inning, the Cubs answered back in the second.
Nico Hoerner hit a 2-run homer off Giolito and Patrick Wisdom gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead with another home run.
"Had a good first inning, the second inning just not commanding the fastball to the top of the zone," Giolito said. "For me, that's my bread and butter. I was kind of all over the place with my heater, missing down, missing down, missing middle. And I got burned there."
Leury Garcia went deep for the White Sox in the third inning to make it a 3-2 game before Gavin Sheets tied it with an RBI single in the fourth.
AJ Pollock's bloop single to right field with two outs in the sixth inning put the White Sox back in front for good.
While the Cubs are a shell of what they were from 2015-2020, they did threaten to end the Sox's recent run of success in the eighth inning.
With Aaron Bummer on in relief, Wisdom led off with a single and advanced to third on Nick Madrigal's single. Bummer struck out pinch-hitter Yan Gomes before being lifted for Matt Foster.
Getting the job done in another high leverage appearance, Foster got Seiya Suzuki to pop out to Sheets at first base and got of the jam by retiring Ian Happ on a called third strike.
"It's a major confidence boost," Foster said. "Just go out there and do the best that I can without letting outside things kind of interfere."
The White Sox headed out of Wrigley Field happy again, even though they almost lost Luis Robert to injury.
With Happ on first base and two outs in the sixth, Willson Contreras crushed a Reynaldo Lopez pitch to center field. Robert chased the drive down and made the catch before banging into the left wall.
He appeared to hurt his left shoulder and was briefly down on the warning track, but Robert got to his feet and stayed in the game.
Just like in Tuesday night's 3-1 win over the Cubs, South Side fans were chanting "Let's go Sox" as Liam Hendriks closed it out in the ninth inning.
"They come out and support," shortstop Tim Anderson said. "You know what these games mean to the fans. Just happy to go out and compete."