AJ Pollock blooped a tie-breaking single in the sixth inning, and the visiting Chicago White Sox held on to sweep their two-game set against the crosstown rival Chicago Cubs with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night.
Jose Abreu and Leury Garcia each homered and Gavin Sheets had an RBI for the White Sox, who have won three straight after losing 11 of 13.
With the game tied at 3-3, the White Sox had two outs and a runner at third when Pollock dropped his single into right field, just out of the reach of Cubs second baseman Nick Madrigal, to put the White Sox ahead.
White Sox starter Lucas Giolito (1-1) gave up a two-run homer to Nico Hoerner and a solo shot to Patrick Wisdom, both in the second inning, plus one other hit, while walking two and striking out 10 over 5 2/3 innings. The White Sox have won five in a row and nine of 11 at Wrigley Field.
Meanwhile, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (1-3) also lasted 5 2/3 innings and yielded four runs and seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
The Cubs struck out 12 times against six White Sox pitchers while losing for the 11th time in 14 games — and seventh in eight at home.
The Cubs put runners on first and third with nobody out in the eighth, but Aaron Bummer got Yan Gomes to line out. Then Matt Foster came on and got Seiya Suzuki to pop out and then fanned Ian Happ.
Abreu got the White Sox on board in the first inning with a homer into the left-field basket, but Hoerner gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead in the second with his two-run shot into the left-field bleachers. Two batters later, Wisdom went deep for the fifth time this season to make it 3-1.
However, Garcia cut into the Cubs’ lead when he led off the third with a home run to center field. An inning later, Luis Robert doubled and eventually scored on Sheets’ single to left.
Robert also ran into the center-field wall while catching Willson Contreras’ long fly to end the sixth.
Liam Hendriks, meanwhile, recorded his third save in as many days with a perfect ninth. It was his seventh save in eight opportunities this season.
–Field Level Media
