The White Sox came into the opener to the crosstown classic playing their best baseball of the season. The Cubs are the number one team in the NL, but they just let themselves get massacred by the White Sox. The Cubs’ pitchers are going to have to see a therapist with all the bombs the Chicago White Sox launched on Friday night.
The White Sox got it started early and often in this game, hitting six more home runs to keep this power surge going for the White Sox. The White Sox now have scored an eye-popping 22 home runs in the last six games, which is the most home runs in a six-game span in White Sox history. The White Sox also passed the New York Yankees for the most home runs in the league with 49 home runs for the season. Normally there are fireworks to celebrate great baseball on the southside, but on Friday night, the White Sox brought the fireworks to the northside.
Luis Robert introduced himself in the crosstown series by blasting a missile into the left-field stands for a two-run shot. For Cubs’ starting pitcher, Jon Lester, this was just the beginning. Jose Abreu had a moon shot to the left-center field for a three-run HR and put the score at 5-0 in the 3rd inning.
The fourth inning would bring the final blows for Lester. Danny Mendick surprised everyone with a pop at the bottom of the order. Finally, Yasmani Grandal dealt a death blow with a two-run shot that was the farthest of the night at that time (441FT). Lester’s night was over after that shot. This was Lester’s worst start of the season(3.2IP 9H 8ER 0BB 3K 77PC 1L).
The White Sox offense still had some fireworks left as Eloy Jimenez had to one-up Grandal’s home run in the seventh inning. His home run went 466FT, which would be the farthest of the night and put the White Sox up 9-0. The White Sox dropped one last bomb in the 9th inning by Jose Abreu, good for his second home run of the game. The White Sox ended with a total of six home runs and finished the game 10-1.
The White Sox offense was so amazing on Friday that Dallas Keuchel’s incredible game was pushed to the wayside. Keuchel (8IP 6H 1ER 1BB 3K 1W) was flawless in this game and controlled the Cubs offense all game long. His two shaky innings came in the 7th and 8th but only gave up one run. It would have been nice to see a complete game shutout, but still, Keuchel set the tone for the other starters. Keuchel now sits at 4-2 in his first season with the White Sox and has pitched better than his record implies.
The White Sox will run out Reynaldo Lopez for Saturday’s game, making his long-awaited return against the rival Cubs and their ace Kyle Hendricks. The White Sox offense is playing so well it does not matter who is pitching. The White Sox are going to score and score on them often. The White Sox have been pitching extremely well. There is no better time than now to run Lopez out there when this team is in the groove they are right now.