July is the time of the year when baseball shines over all of the sports because it truly is the dog days of Summer. Meanwhile, in Chicago, everyone gets to stay close to home right before the all star break as the Chicago White Sox head to the north side of town to face the Chicago Cubs at famous Wrigley Field.
The crosstown series highlighted two strong pitchers as Chris Sale was pitching for the White Sox while facing Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs. Sale in his last start had his streak of getting 10 or more strikeouts broken, while Lester didn't get a single run of support as he earned a loss against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Lester started out struggling again today, as he almost gave up a combined cycle to the White Sox hitters in the opening half inning. Adam Eaton started the game with a leadoff double, Tyler Saladino followed that up with a RBI triple, and then Jose Abreu hit an RBI single as the White Sox had an early 2-0 edge.
Chris Sale would not have those same struggles as he struck out Cubs rookie phenom Kris Bryant in the first inning as he would start a new streak where he struck out 10 in today's game. He got the win to become 8-4 on the season, and went 8 innings giving up just 6 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run.
In the second inning, it is important to note that Cubs catcher Miguel Montero left the game after jamming his thumb at the plate.
Not much was happening in the middle innings as Lester had settled down and Chris Sale was being the strong ace that White Sox fans know him for. Lester got tagged again for some runs in the top of the 7th inning, but none were scored before there was an error by Kris Bryant. Alexei Ramirez hit an RBI single scoring Melky Cabrera, and that was followed up immediately by Tyler Flowers hitting a double to score both Ramirez and Avisail Garcia. This gave the White Sox a 5 run lead as they seemed destined to take the second game and set up the possibility of the sweep.
The Cubs were able to finally get on the board thanks to a timely pinch-hit in the order as they were ready to substitute out Jon Lester in the bottom of the seventh. First, Starlin Castro singled to get on base and then was brought home two batters later by Jonathan Herrera. Chris Sale would easily get the last two outs to strand Herrera on second and end the opportunity of a scoring rally.
Zach Duke and Jake Petricka were solid for the White Sox bullpen to close the game out without allowing a single run. Chris Coghlan recorded the final out of the game at the plate for the Cubs by grounding out.
The Chicago White Sox (41-44) will put Jose Quintana on the mound for Sunday's game as the White Sox will go for a series sweep against Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs (46-40).