Jimenez, Cease help White Sox complete sweep over Cubs

When White Sox general manager Rick Hahn made the trade just over four years ago, he likely was thinking about an eventual payoff like the one that happened Sunday night at Wrigley Field.

The Sox were going nowhere fast midway through the 2017 season and looking to add premium young talent with an eye toward the future.

With Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech already in the system courtesy of the Chris Sale trade to the Red Sox, Hahn sent Jose Quintana to the Cubs and got Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease in return.

Both prospects have blossomed into key contributors on a playoff-bound team, and the duo played big roles in Sunday night's 9-3 win over the Cubs.

In just his ninth game of an injury-riddled season, Jimenez homered twice, doubled and drove in 5 runs as the White Sox swept the Cubs in a three-game series.

"I know he's a monster," manager Tony La Russa said.

Jimenez did hit a clutch 3-run homer to power the Sox past Kansas City on July 27 in his second game back from a four-month layoff due to a ruptured pectoral tendon.

The left fielder injured his groin in the next game and he's been working to get his timing all the way back.

Sunday night might have done the trick.

"I'm feeling really good," Jimenez said. "I'm feeling more comfortable every day. I feel like I'm pretty much back to normal."

As for the blockbuster crosstown trade, Jimenez doesn't give it too much thought anymore.

"That's in the past, but I still had it in my mind," he said. "It feels good but I just need to move forward."

The Sox erupted for 5 runs in the first inning against Cubs starter Zach Davies on home runs by Tim Anderson, Jimenez and Andrew Vaughn, giving Cease an instant cushion.

The 25-year-old starter gave up 2 runs in the second inning and another one in the third, but that was it over a 5-inning, 10-strikeout performance.

"It wasn't my sharpest game and I was pretty inefficient," Cease said after throwing 92 pitches. "But to get the win is all that matters."

Beating a watered-down Cubs team that was dismantled before the July 30 trade deadline was almost expected, but the White Sox still had to show up and take care of business.

"Definitely dope," said Anderson, who led off the game with a homer after being initially scheduled for a day off before talking his way into the lineup. "To come here and take over this park and get all three of them, I can definitely say we were the better team this series for sure."