Game Recap: Cubs clinch crosstown series win against White Sox

David Banks - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 17 hours ago

CHICAGO - Nothing came easy for the Chicago Cubs (62-43) this weekend, but the bottom line was they found a way to take two of three from the Chicago White Sox (38-68) at Guaranteed Rate Field. That is all you can ask for, as that comes out to be a 96-win pace should the Cubs play to an average of two of three per series.

Despite their record, the White Sox have been playing excellent baseball as of late, and that trend continued into this weekend as they gave the Cubs all they could handle. Sunday saw a game where the Cubs had control most of the day, only to have a late Andrew Benintendi homer pull the White Sox within 5-4. That is how things would end, but it's how the Cubs got that fifth run that stands out as Colson Montgomery committed Interference on a rundown that allowed Ian Happ to score the winning run in the eighth.

The real story of the afternoon was Ben Brown, as he quite possibly could've delivered his best start of the season in what could be his final start of the year. As frustrating as it is to see him on the mound at times, Brown was as good as he has been this season, striking out four across five innings and allowing just one run.

Many of his struggles have been largely due to not being able to settle in during the first inning, but with the Cubs jumping on Grant Taylor early, it did make things easier for the young right-hander. Following a one-out double that put Kyle Tucker on base, Seiya Suzuki worked a walk as the Cubs had two on and one out. Pete Crow-Armstrong made it three consecutive baserunners for the Cubs as he laced his 27th double of the season to bring home a pair and put the Cubs on top for good, 2-0.

That was it for Taylor, who was solely used as an opener, paving the way for Sean Burke, who was very effective in his 4 2/3, striking out eight and allowing just two runs. It only took three batters for the Sox to answer the Cubs two-run first with Benintendi taking Brown deep for the first of his two homers as he was the Sox offense in this one.

Still leading 2-1 in the third, Crow-Armstrong took it upon himself to set the Cubs up again as he delivered a one-out double off Burke. Carson Kelly followed that up with a walk, only to have Burke escape the third without damage. As good as Brown was, the third inning was a struggle for him as he allowed a pair of singles to Lenyn Sosa and Brooks Baldwin to start things off as the White Sox were in business.

Not only did Brown escape that inning without damage, but those were the final runners of the game for the Sox off him as Brown went on to retire the final nine hitters he faced to cap off a strong outing. Looking to add to their lead in the sixth, Kelly got things started for the Cubs' offense as he picked up a leadoff single against Burke to set the offense up.

Three batters later, Kelly was standing on second and in danger of not scoring, only to have Nico Hoerner deliver another hit with runners on base to push the lead to 3-1. That was only the start of things for the Cubs as the scorching hot Matt Shaw continued his recent RBI binge with a double that pushed the Cubs' lead to 4-1.

With Brown now out of the game following his five impressive innings, Craig Counsell turned to the pen to finish things off as Caleb Thielbar worked another scoreless frame in the sixth. He gave way to Drew Pomeranz in the seventh as he allowed a pair of one-out singles to Miguel Vargas and Edgar Quero, putting runners on the corners.

Pomeranz managed to get one more out before yielding to Ryan Brasier, who closed things out to get the game to the eighth. This is when the momentum began to shift as a pair of walks to Ian Happ and Hoerner gave the Cubs another scoring opportunity, but with two outs, they would need Shaw to come through.

Whether it be smart baserunning by the Cubs or poor execution by the Sox, both Hoerner and Happ got into run downs on the play, but it was Happ crashing into Montgomery at third and jarring the ball loose on the play. To make matters worse, Montgomery was called for Interference on the play, allowing Happ to score, which would prove extremely costly in the end.

Look no further than the bottom of the eighth as to how costly that play was, as Brasier was cruising along only to allow a pair of two-out hits to Mike Tauchman and Chase Meidroth to put a pair of runners in scoring position and two outs. Responsible for the Sox only run up to this point, Benintendi took it upon himself to make things interesting as he took Brasier deep for his second homer of the day to pull the Sox within one 5-4.

Daniel Palencia not only took over from there to close out the eighth, but sent the White Sox packing in the ninth to record his first four-out save of the season in the Cubs' 5-4 win. With the win, coupled with the Brewers' walk-off win against the Marlins, Chicago will head to Wrigley North on Monday tied for first to begin by far their biggest series of the season.

PCA paced the Cubs with two hits and two RBIs as the Cubs had seven hits in the win. Nico Hoerner added two hits and delivered a heads-up defensive play in the early innings as the Cubs desperately needed this series win against the Sox.