The White Sox snapped a three-game losing streak by extending their Wrigley Field winning streak to six games, and Luis Robert Jr. put quite a stamp on it.
With the game tied at 3 in the seventh, Robert fell behind Julian Merryweather 0-2, but managed to drag out the at-bat for eight whole pitches.
On the sixth pitch, Merryweather elevated a slider on the outer half of the plate, but Robert could only foul it off. Merryweather then returned to throwing well-located pitches, dotting 99 mph on the outside corner that Robert fended off.
But when he went back to his slider on the eighth pitch, Merryweather again left it up. He also left it middle-middle. Robert did not waste it. He scorched the ball into -- and maybe -- through the left-field bleachers at 110 mph to put the White Sox ahead 4-3. He spun out of the batter's box, flipped his bat, and shushed the crowd on the way back to the dugout.
From there, Pedro Grifol went to his most established relievers, and they carried the game home. Aaron Bummer had his good control, but when he gave up a one-out single to Nico Hoerner, it became easy to envision Hoerner getting from first to third, for Hoerner stole his 30th base earlier in the game, and baserunners were 12-for-12 on Bummer.
But 13 was Bummer's lucky number, because Yasmani Grandal cut down Hoerner at second, and the Cubs went down in order thereafter. Bummer retired Cody Bellinger on a warning-track line drive to start the eighth, and Gregory Santos went five-up-five-down for the lengthy save. Andrew Benintendi's bloop double, which drove home Elvis Andrus after a two-out single and a stolen base in the ninth, proved to be unnecessary insurance.
That capped off an excellent night for the bullpen, which had to pick up more than half the game since Touki Toussaint struggled.
Toussaint had worse-than-usual control problems, issuing five walks over four-plus innings while throwing only 47 of 87 pitches for strikes. He compounded that with a home-run problem, as both Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki left the yard. Given that he failed two of the three true outcomes, it could've been worse, but he managed to strike out Dansby Swanson with two on to end the third, and three of his walks came with two outs, minimizing the Cubs' chances to cash in on them.
Tanner Banks relieved Toussaint after a leadoff walk of Hoerner in the fifth, and while Hoerner swiped second, Bank stranded him there with three unproductive outs (lineout, flyout, groundout). Lane Ramsey then pitched the sixth and worked around a leadoff single and a two-out stolen base with three even less helpful outs (two popouts around a strikeout). That put him in position for his first major-league win.
Kyle Hendricks had a similarly shaky start. He loaded the bases with one out in the first and escaped with merely a run-scoring fielder's choice by Yoán Moncada. In the second, Yasmani Grandal singled, moved to second on a swinging bunt by Oscar Colás, then moved to third on a legitimate bunt single by Zach Remillard. Remillard then stole second, and almost beat Grandal home when Andrus singled through the left side to make it a 3-2 game.
Hendricks kept the Sox in check afterwards and lasted long enough for the quality start, but while he won the battle of starters, the Sox prevailed in the battle of bullpens.
Bullet points:
*The top of the order had a good game, with Andrus, Benintendi and Robert all reaching twice.
*The White Sox went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position; the Cubs 1-for-6.
*Remillard made a fine sliding catch in shallow right field toward the foul line after a long run to keep the leadoff single Ramsey allowed at first in the sixth inning. It's the kind of play that I would've loved to see Jake Burger try, but that matter is settled.
