Mike Tauchman led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run as the Chicago Cubs handed the visiting Chicago White Sox their 13th consecutive loss, 7-6 on Wednesday.
Tauchman, who finished 2-for-4 with three runs, lined a 98 mph fastball from White Sox reliever Michael Kopech (1-6) into the bleachers in left-center. The 398-foot shot was his first career walk-off homer and his fifth long ball of the season.
Dansby Swanson went 2-for-3 with two runs and Cody Bellinger had two RBIs for the Cubs, who swept the two-game Crosstown Classic series. Hector Neris (6-0) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief.
Corey Julks homered and had two hits and Paul DeJong also went deep for the White Sox, who tied their record for the single-season losing streak, a mark set from Aug. 9-26, 1924.
Andrew Vaughn had a double and a single and Nicky Lopez, Gavin Sheets and Lenyn Sosa also each had two hits for the White Sox, who lost for the 17th time in their past 18 games.
The White Sox took a 1-0 lead when Julks hammered the first pitch of the game by Cubs starter Jameson Taillon 408 feet over the left field bleachers and onto Waveland Avenue for his second home run.
The Cubs tied it 1-1 in the second. Christopher Morel led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Nico Hoerner’s fielder’s choice.
The White Sox parlayed six singles into a 5-1 lead in the fourth with Oscar Colas, Korey Lee, Sosa and Lopez each driving in a run.
The Cubs cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fifth. Bellinger’s fielder’s choice drove in Swanson, who opened the inning with a single, and Tauchman, who also singled, later scored on a balk by White Sox starter Erick Fedde.
The Cubs needed just one hit to score three runs while taking a 6-5 lead in the seventh. Swanson was hit by a pitch from reliever Michael Soroka to open the inning, and Yan Gomes followed with a walk. Both runners advanced on a balk, and Swanson scored on a wild pitch on ball four to Tauchman. Gomes later scored on a sacrifice fly by Bellinger off of Jared Shuster, and Tauchman came home on a broken-bat single by Ian Happ.
DeJong then led off the eighth with his 10th home run, off Hayden Wesneski, to tie it 6-6 and set the stage for Tauchman’s dramatic game-winner.
–Field Level Media
