Ian Happ and Matt Shaw homered to back 6 1/3 strong innings from Cade Horton as the visiting Chicago Cubs defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Saturday.
The Cubs outhit the White Sox 10-6 to even the crosstown series at one game apiece. Dansby Swanson delivered a two-out, two-run single in the eighth to stretch the advantage to 5-0 before Shaw worked a bases-loaded walk to drive in a run.
Shaw had three RBIs, Swanson added two and Happ had two hits.
Mike Tauchman paced the White Sox with two hits. He smacked a solo home run to lead off the ninth, his second homer in as many games, as Chicago avoided a shutout.
Starters Horton and Aaron Civale of the White Sox matched zeros over the first five innings, setting a brisk pace that contrasted with the White Sox’s 12-5 rout in the series opener Friday.
Civale retired the first 11 Cubs batters before Seiya Suzuki singled with two outs in the fourth. He surrendered consecutive singles to open the fifth but escaped trouble with two groundouts and a flyout.
Civale scattered three hits and didn’t walk a batter while matching a season high with six strikeouts over five shutout innings.
Horton contended with early basepath traffic of his own but also emerged unscathed. The rookie right-hander worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the first inning and allowed a leadoff single in the second before retiring 10 straight White Sox hitters.
Horton (4-3) got the first out of the seventh inning before yielding to the bullpen. He scattered four hits and one walk in 6 1/3 innings, with three strikeouts.
Tyler Alexander pitched a scoreless sixth for the White Sox. Jordan Leasure entered the game in the seventh but encountered trouble after getting the first out. Happ smacked a solo homer to right center field and Shaw delivered a two-run blast three batters later.
Leasure (3-6) allowed three runs and three hits in 2/3 of an inning.
White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (sore adductor) missed his second straight game.
The Cubs clinched the season series, winning for the fourth time in five meetings against the White Sox.
–Field Level Media
