30 runs! Sox outslug Cubs in wild 17-13 win

After a rugged stretch of games against the Yankees, Athletics, Rays and Blue Jays, the White Sox were set up for a needed breather against the decimated Cubs Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Thanks to catcher Yasmani Grandal, who hit a pair of 3-run homers and drove in 8 runs in his first game off the injured list, it did work out that way in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

"Today, I wasn't thinking about the 8 RBI," Grandal said. "I was just thinking about getting more runs on the scoreboard because you never know what can happen."

Based on the final score, Grandal was right. The Sox outslugged the Cubs 17-13 but they almost coughed it up early.

The Cubs, who jettisoned most of their talent and are 6-20 since the July 30 trade deadline, pounced on White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel for 6 runs on 6 hits in the first inning.

With a majority of the sellout crowd of 37,892 booing in the second, Keuchel gave up a leadoff single to Frank Schwindel, threw one pitch to Patrick Wisdom and was pulled by manager Tony La Russa.

"They really had a good plan against Dallas," Grandal said. "It seems like every pitch he missed, they hit. It happens."

Keuchel's second half struggles continued and his ERA ballooned to 5.00. Fortunately, the White Sox had Reynaldo Lopez ready to go in the bullpen.

While Lopez was retiring all 15 hitters he faced while striking out 7, the Sox's bats heated up against starter Keegan Thompson and the Cubs' bullpen and the marathon game turned into a football game.

Behind Grandal, Lopez and a costly error by Cubs shortstop Andrew Romine, the White Sox erased the early deficit and took off.

First baseman Jose Abreu drove in 2 more runs, upping his major-league leading RBI total to 99.

Grandal also knocked in 8 runs for the Dodgers, on May 7, 2015 vs. the Brewers. He's the first White Sox hitter to have 8 RBI in a game since Sept. 4, 1995, when Robin Ventura hit 2 grand slams vs. Rangers.

"Evidently, he's been doing a lot of work," La Russa said of Grandal, who tore a tendon in his left knee on July 5. "His swing was on time … huge, huge production."

The Sox did get a run back in the first inning after Keuchel's shaky outing before erupting for 8 runs in the third.

Thompson could have gotten out of the messy inning with the game tied at 6, but Romine dropped a routine popup off the bat of Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn scored to put the Sox in front 7-6.

Thompson blamed himself after giving up 4 earned runs over 2 innings in his third major-league start.

"Very poor," he said. "They gave me a 6-run lead, no excuses. Just a bad night."

While the Sox had plenty of players taking bows on a sultry night on the South Side, the Cubs can take some solace in 2 more home runs by Wisdom on his 30th birthday and a nice game by center fielder Michael Hermosillo, who robbed Vaughn of a home run in the fourth inning and made another highlight catch against Tim Anderson in the second before homering in the seventh inning.

Now 4-0 against the Cubs this season, the Sox went 7-7 against New York, Oakland, Tampa Bay and Toronto before returning home Friday. Not great, but not too bad, either.

"Going 7-7 is perfectly understandable and a fine result," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "You see throughout baseball, the dog days of August are called that for a reason. It's tough to get through this time after the trade deadline and before the stretch run. Tony and the staff and the players to the man all responded to it well. With that said, I'm happy to see it in the rear view mirror."