Abreu gets it started, but White Sox fail to finish in loss to Cubs
Powered by (who else?) Jose Abreu, the White Sox came out slugging again Sunday at Wrigley Field.
The Sox's offense resembled a stacked softball lineup in the first two weekend games against the Cubs, both wins.
When Abreu led off the second inning with a home run off Yu Darvish, it looked like another explosive day was coming for the hottest team in baseball.
That softball style soon switched to grind-it-out baseball, and the White Sox came up a little short in a 2-1 loss.
Abreu's 449-foot early blast was his fourth home run in as many at-bats, which tied a major-league record. Darvish settled down after that, and Cubs relief pitcher Jeremy Jeffress nailed down a tough save when he got Yoan Moncada to ground out with the bases loaded to end the game.
"I would rather have the win today," Abreu said through a translator. "We battled. We did our best and we just came up short. It was a good game. I'm happy for what I did but it's a little bittersweet because we didn't get the win today."
The Sox scored 18 runs while winning two of three from the Cubs, and they all came on homers.
Abreu hit 6 home runs at Wrigley, the most ever by a White Sox player in a three-game series.
"You see a guy locked in like that, making some good swings, all of his at-bats were pretty good swings," manager Rick Renteria said. "It's special to watch because when you see a hitter locked in, there is nothing like it. This guy is diligent in his work, preparation, as he goes about his business.
"He is even-keeled every single day. He wants to give you what he has. He is one of the most underrated guys in Chicago. He shouldn't be. He has earned it. He earns everything he gets."
The Sox are trying to earn respect and show they've become a team to be reckoned with. A sweep of the Cubs would have greatly helped those causes, but winning the series while hitting 12 home runs made for an acceptable weekend.
"I felt like we were in it, in every pitch," said White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who allowed 2 runs in 6 innings. "I think we're a team that needs to be taken serious and I think they're a great team, too. It's one of those series where we had two big teams clash with each other and it was a lot of fun to watch."
Darvish is back to being an elite major-league starter, and he kept the Sox's big bats mostly quiet while striking out 10 over 7 innings.
"Everybody knows he's a good pitcher," Abreu said. "He has a lot of experience with very good pitches. He came to us as we were expecting, just executing and doing the things that he does. He had a very good game plan and he executed.
"I think we have to tip our cap to him, but we also have to recognize the work Cease did. I think Dylan threw a pretty good game, just one mistake. It was a homer. That happens in baseball."