Homer happy Cubs power past White Sox
Wisdom hits 2 HRs, Ortega hits grand slam, Mills pitches into 9th
For the second straight night, the Cubs jumped out to a big lead in the City Series.
This time, Alec Mills made sure there would be no epic rally from the White Sox.
Patrick Wisdom hit a solo home run and Rafael Ortega hit a grand slam during a five-run fourth inning to power the Cubs to a 7-0 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 38,668 on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Wisdom hit another solo home run an inning later, giving him four homers in the first two games of the series.
“They’re having really good at-bats and having some really nice years and the opportunities they’ve been given,” Cubs manager David Ross said of Wisdom and Ortega. “That’s a credit to them and the work that they put in and the mentality they bring every single day to this clubhouse.”
It was a rare off day for Sox starter Lance Lynn. The Cy Young Award candidate allowed a seasonhigh seven runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
“First time he’s really had that kind of game,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “It happens. We got beat. They pitched better, they hit better, they managed better. So it wasn’t much of a contest.”
On the flip side there was Mills, who allowed four hits, struck out three and walked two in 8⅓ innings.
“They hit the fastball well, but they also hit strikes well, so it’s one of those things where I’m going to pitch to my strengths,” Mills said. “I can locate the heater well and I had that tonight. It was really taking advantage of some early swings and trying to create some bad contact. I got in the groove with it pretty early on and just kind of ran with it.”
The Cubs built a 6-0 lead in the first inning of Friday’s series opener, only for the Sox to score the next 13 runs on the way to a 17-13 win.
That game was highlighted by the long ball. Yasmani Grandal hit two three-run homers for the Sox, while the Cubs had four home runs, two by Wisdom.
The Cubs continued to flex their muscles Saturday. But first they used some small ball in the form of a safety squeeze in the second by Robinson Chirinos that brought home Matt Duffy for the game’s first run.
Wisdom’s solo home run to left led off the fourth. Ortega’s slam, on an 0-2 fastball with two outs, put the Cubs ahead 6-0 again.
They tacked on another run an inning later with Wisdom’s second homer.
“When you give up three home runs (including) a grand slam, it’s not going to be a good night,” Lynn said. “Over the course of the year, I’ve been able to make pitches and get out of those situations. And with the grand slam, kind of threw it where I wanted to. He put a good swing on it and was able to get it out.
“And then the two pitches to Wisdom, he’s in a good spot and he was able to put good swings on them. So that’s part of it. But over the course of the year, I’ve been able to make pitches when I needed to. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights. I’ll learn from it and get better. And every once in a while, you need a slap in the face to get yourself going. Tonight was definitely one of those.”
And it was a night when Mills was on his game.
“It was a clinic tonight for me,” Ross said. “He only had a couple of punchouts, was off the barrels a lot. A lot of ground balls, good defense behind him. Got in some fastball counts, threw some sinkers in. Weak contact is still a thing, you don’t have to miss barrels all the time. He just commanded the zone really well, threw strikes when he had to and the secondary stuff was real.”
José Abreu doubled in the first, César Hernández singled in the third and Yoán Moncada singled in the fourth and ninth for the only Sox hits.
Moncada extended his hitting streak to 14 games, matching a career high. Abreu followed Moncada’s fourth-inning hit by grounding into a double play. It was an indication that Saturday indeed would be different.
“When they see a heater, they’re going to swing,” Mills said. “I tried to kind of nibble on the corners early in the count and then creating a lot of ground balls and just trying to get out of innings quickly. We needed some length tonight after the last two or three games with extra innings (in Wednesday’s doubleheader) and then last night. The goal for me was to get some quick outs early and get going.”