Fittingly, Aroldis gets save, Sale takes loss
Maybe it was only fitting that the culmination of this bizarre week of Cubs and White Sox non-baseball would come down to the two left-handers who seemed at the center of every subplot.
Sox ace Chris Sale returned from his jerseyshredding suspension to start the last of the four games between the teams Thursday.
And Aroldis Chapman, the controversial closer acquired by the Cubs on Monday in a trade with the Yankees, finished the fourgame set with his first save as a Cub in their 3-1 victory at Wrigley Field.
It was the first time this season that Chapman was called on in the eighth inning. He told the staff before the game that he was willing to do it, and he was told it might happen as the game reached the late innings.
“I was ready,” said Chapman, who took over with two outs in a one-run game and a runner at third.
He struck out Melky Cabrera swinging with a 102 mph fastball to the gasps of a full-house crowd still getting used to triple-digit scoreboard velocity readings.
Then he finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth for a fourout save, his 21st.
Replacing Hector Rondon with the lefty Chapman also had the effect of turning around the switch-hitting Cabrera to his slightly weaker side, which manager Joe Maddon said never factored into the decision.
“It’s just different [with Chapman],” Maddon said. “I throw all that out.”
Chapman found a greater comfort zone in his second appearance for the Cubs, both in terms of the more natural save situation and also a second day with Wrigley Field fans, some of whom got high-fives from him.
“I feel really comfortable with them,” he said with the help of teammate Miguel Montero translating. “They make me feel [like they’re] proud of me when I go out there, with the fans actually cheering for me. It’s something I didn’t have in the past when I came here [as a Reds pitcher]. I’m pretty pumped to be part of it.”
Sale (14-4) didn’t have his All-Star sharpness after nine days between starts, but he pitched out of enough trouble to get through six innings, allowing only two runs.
Cubs starter John Lackey (8-7) outpitched Sale in his six innings (he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh) for his first victory since June 8, retiring 16 of 19 after allowing a first-inning run.
For the second consecutive night, former closer Rondon started the eighth to set up the Chapman finish, pushing Pedro Strop down the pecking order into the scoreless seventh.
“It just shortens the game for the other team; they know they only have so much time before the game is over, mentally,” Ben Zobrist said. “That’s what [Chapman] does. [He] takes it to that next level where the game is at least an inning shorter.”
And where the end becomes must-see viewing.
“It’s been a cool atmosphere,” Lackey said of the last two nights with Chapman finishing. “It was definitely something you want to tune in to see, for sure.”
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