Baseball is back, and Cubs-White Sox exhibition game was glorious
In his first Wrigley Field at-bat wearing a Cubs uniform, Jason Kipnis connected on a 426-foot home run off White Sox starter Drew Anderson.
The crowd roared as Kipnis, a Northbrook native thrilled to be back home after playing his first nine major-league seasons with Cleveland, circled the bases. If you closed your eyes at that moment, it was just like being at a real major-league game.
Of course, it wasn't real.
It was only an exhibition between the Cubs and Sox, but there were plenty more fabrications.
Those Wrigley seats that are always filled, no matter if the White Sox or Marlins are in the visiting dugout? Empty.
The crowd noise that accompanied Kipnis' home-run trot? Piped in for effect.
There was a pre-recorded national anthem, a moment of silence before first pitch for fallen Cubs and Sox luminaries including Glenn Beckert and Ed Farmer, and a Zoom screen projected on the scoreboard with a bunch of kids yelling, “Play ball!”
Add it all up and here is an instant review from the socially distanced/masked up press box at Wrigley.
The Cubs vs. White Sox scrimmage was glorious.
I've covered thousands of games for the Daily Herald through the years, and this one will be sitting pretty high on the most memorable list when it is time to take inventory.
Given everything that has transpired since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the game on March 12, having baseball of any kind is not something to take lightly.
“I think everybody is looking forward to tonight's game,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “We have been playing against each other. Today is a nice change as we start getting the feel of what it's going to be like during the regular season. It's unique for everyone, but I'm sure that everybody is trying to do the best they can to pull it off.
“To this point, we are very happy with how we have continued to progress and we hope everyone has an enjoyable night watching baseball in Chicago.”
Not that the results really matter, but it was a much more enjoyable night for the White Sox, who arrived at Wrigley as a group following a quick bus ride from the South Side.
Trailing 2-0 after Kipnis homered and Nico Hoerner added a sacrifice fly, the Sox erupted for 6 runs in the fifth inning as the crowd noise booed and moaned.
The White Sox beat the Cubs 7-3, and the two rivals meet again Monday night in an exhibition game at Guaranteed Rate Field.
In the decisive fifth, Adam Engel started the Sox's rally with a homer off Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks.
The White Sox broke it open on three straight run-scoring doubles, by Yasmani Grandal, Edwin Encarnacion and Luis Robert, followed by Leury Garcia's RBI triple.
Robert was out of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, along with the rest of the Sox's starting position players.
The game didn't count — even though it really did for the so many missing baseball — but the White Sox wanted to put on an offensive show for the overflow TV/radio audience that was tuned in. Mission accomplished.
“We have a very good chemistry right now and if you see our lineup, it's going to be a strength,” Robert said through a translator. “We have hitters who hit for power, hitters who hit for contact and speed we're going to try to take advantage of. That's something that we have there. If you combine all of that you will see we have a very good lineup and a balanced lineup.
“We're going to be able to do some damage and it's going to be a good lineup to navigate through. That's going to be our strength.”