Gonzalez helps Sox halt 9- game skid
It wasn’t time for White Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez — his cut fastball working like gold — to be lifted from the game, even when the Cubs, trailing by a run, got base hits from Jon Jay and Javy Baez to open the seventh inning Monday.
Two outs later, with the bases loaded and slugger Anthony Rizzo walking to the plate, Gonzalez’s work still wasn’t done.
Gonzalez, who had lost nine of his last 10 decisions, even started the eighth, getting an out before manager Rick Renteria finally went out to get him and give him a well- earned pat on the back.
The Cubs might run the Chicago baseball scene on the whole, but Gonzales and the Sox — who came in on a nine- game losing streak — struck first in the Crosstown Showdown opener, winning 3- 1 atWrigley Field.
‘‘ It was huge,’’ Gonzalez ( 5- 9) said of his cutter. ‘‘ I used it a lot. Even counts, behind, ahead. It was a good pitch.”
Really, was it any surprise the Sox won? The Cubs came in on an 8- 1 tear since the AllStar break. The Sox came in at a season- worst 19 games under .500. But winning at Wrigley is what the Sox do. They now have taken 14 of the last 22 games between the teams on the North Side and hold a 28- 27 edge overall at the ballpark.
A highlight that will be remembered for a while by both sides was the 476- foot bomb ontoWaveland Avenue by Matt Davidson off Koji Uehara that gave the Sox a 3- 1 lead in the eighth.
‘‘ He hung one, and I lifted it pretty good,’’ Davidson said.
Anthony Swarzak earned a four- out save for the Sox. He struck out Willson Contreras with two on and two outs to end the game.
Kyle Hendricks made his first start in more than seven weeks for the Cubs, going 4„ innings and allowing one run. With the loss, the Cubs slipped a half- game behind the idle Brewers in the National League Central.
The teams play again Tuesday at Wrigley before moving to the South Side for two more games.