The Cubs (20-30) edged out the White Sox (24-25) 7-0 with solid pitching and a team batting effort. The two Chicago teams met on the south side for the first game in a four game Crosstown Classic series.
Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija (3-6, 2.85 ERA) simply dominated in the win. The White Sox only put together two hits against the Cubs’ hard-throwing right-hander, and he only allowed one scoring chance for the South Siders. Samardzija gave up one walk in eight innings.
Left-handed White Sox starter Jose Quintana (3-2, 3.75 ERA) had a much harder time against the Cubs bats. Alfonso Soriano had a pretty stellar 3-for-4 day, along with Julio Borbon with his two-run homerun that opened the lead to 3-0 in the fifth. Scott Hairston had the other run batted in against Quintana on a sacrifice fly.
That about ended Quintana’s evening after six innings and 95 pitches. White Sox reliever Nate Jones was called to the mound in the seventh, but his luck was no better than Quintana’s. Rizzo hit deep in to center field, and Sox outfielder Alejandro De Aza misplayed it at the wall for a two-run triple. Soriano singled home Rizzo in the next at-bat for his second RBI.
The loss dropped the South Siders’ record beneath .500, after pushing to reach the mark this Sunday for the first time since April. The White Sox had won eight of their last 11 match ups against the Cubs, but this game shows the Crosstown Cup taking an early lean towards the North Side.
Next Up: White Sox ace Chris Sale (5-2, 2.53 ERA) is on schedule to start Tuesday night against Cubs righty Edwin Jackson (1-7, 6.11 ERA). Sale had been put on the DL due to mild tendinitis in his shoulder, but the left-hander had no setbacks after a bullpen session on Sunday. The game will be played at U.S. Cellular Field again with a start time of 7:10 CT.
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