Sox beat Cubs, end 9-game slide
CHICAGO » Adam Engel and Matt Davidson homered and the White Sox snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the crosstown rival Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday.
The Cubs lost for just the second time in 10 games following the All-Star break to fall a half-game behind idle first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
Engel lined his third homer of the season off reliever Justin Grimm (1-1) into the wind and several rows into the left-center bleachers to snap a 1-1 tie in the sixth. Davidson led off the eighth with his 19th homer, which sailed over the left-field stands and onto Waveland Avenue.
Miguel Gonzalez (5-9) allowed one run and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings to end a four-game losing streak and win for just the second time in 11 decisions.
Jose Abreu had two hits and doubled in a run for the AL-worst White Sox, who ended their longest slide in four years.
Monday’s game was the first of four consecutive this week between the Cubs and White Sox.
In his first start since June 4 because of tendinitis in his pitching hand, Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed a run and eight hits. The 27-yearold was 16-8 with a major league-best 2.13 ERA last season and his return is one key to the defending World Series champions’ rotation down the stretch.
Hendricks struck out five and walked none, but White Sox hitters battled to extend at-bats and drove up the righty’s pitch count. Hendricks was replaced by Grimm with one out in the fifth after throwing his 92nd pitch — one that resulted in Abreu’s RBI double that tied it at 1.