Johnny Couto did not allow a run in his first two games with the Chicago White Sox.
But a Patrick Wisdom bloop double and a Frank Schwindell single set the tone early for the Cubs, who scored the first two and there was no looking back, beating the Sox. In front of a sell-out crowd of 37,820 at the 5-1 Guaranteed Rate field in the City Series.
“Our approach was to hit strike, make sure to get them in the zone, and whether it was the first pitch or the pitch, I think we were just aggressive in terms of the mentality to hit strike,” Wisdom said. “It paid off for us.
“It’s just honing in on a strike, making sure you can get something to hit at the plate, something you can do damage and put a good swing on.”
Both the runs of the first innings came with two outs. And in two different forms.
The Wisdom bloop, with an exit velocity of 76.1 mph, according to MLB statcast, landed out of reach of Sox first baseman Jose Abreu in shallow right field for an RBI double. Wisdom scored on Schwindell’s single, which had an exhaust velocity of 103.3 mph.
“They turned out to be aggressive, I saw that from the beginning of the game (and) I tried to deal with it,” Cueto said through an interpreter. “They took advantage of me trying to throw strikes and they are a young team and they were aggressive.”
Nico Horner took the lead in second place with a single, moved to third on a single from Rafael Ortega and when Andrelton Simmons went off the field to shortstop Tim Anderson.
The Sox threatened to cut the deficit in the bottom of second when Yasmani Grendel attempted to score from the second Jake Berger’s single to the right. Ortega dismissed him on the plate to end the innings.
“I patted (third base coach) Joe (McEwing) on the back,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “When you’re struggling, it’s one of those things that you do, man. You have to push. Land ball that way, boy it’s good toss, made a strong throw, so, you You know, I thought you had to send him. He had to throw to stop it.”
Berger took matters into his own hands in the fifth, scoring a single home run left, making it 3–1.
Adam Engel smoked a one-hopper that Simmons, the Cubs shortstop, could not handle and converted it into a double. But Keegan Thompson got Anderson to fly in third and Josh Harrison to the right to cut the damage.
Thompson (5–0) scored a career-high match with five innings in his third start of the season, allowing one run for five hits with four strikeouts and a walk.
“I feel like I was kind of everywhere and wasn’t really hitting a ton of spots,” he said. “I’m really lucky right now. I think they missed a few pitches in the strike zone. I just didn’t hit a ton of spots and got away with some bad pitches.”
He said going through outings when his stuff wasn’t working out was a “huge confidence booster”.
“Because then when you’re hitting the spot and doing what you’re supposed to do, you feel like it’s getting even better,” Thompson said. “So I got lucky tonight.”
Wisdom and Schwindell helped add runs in the seventh. Batting with the bases loaded, Wisdom struck a grounder deep into the hole between the second and the short. Anderson made a fine backhand stop and threw in second for a force. Wisdom first beat Harrison’s throw and scored a run.
Schwindell took a 5-1 lead with an RBI single to the right and ended Cueto’s outing.
“The way (manager David) Ross designs a lineup, it’s fun because there’s some thump and then there’s also a lot of contact,” Wisdom said. “If one of us doesn’t do it, the guy behind is picking you up. It’s a lot of fun and also takes some of the pressure off, knowing that there are people behind you who can take him in too.” “
Cueto (0-1) – who entered Saturday with 12 consecutive no-scoring innings since the Sox bought his contract from Triple-A Charlotte on May 16 – five runs for nine hits and 6⅔ innings with two strikeouts Allowed three runs in.
La Russa said, ‘He attacked right in the first innings itself. “It was he who got hurt. But he settled down and did a really good job. The best part of the game was at the end, we stopped getting a lot of runs with very good defense. Shows me we still have We’re competing, which I love.”
The Sox went blank after a chance to score another goal in the seventh. Berger and Engel had one single after another. But Rowan Wick pushed Anderson to play a double game.
The Sox went 1-for-7 with the runners in the scoring position and fell a game under .500 at 22-23.
“You’re going to feel the pressure of, ‘Oh, we’ve only scored one run,’ or it’s zero or whatever it may be,” Berger said. “We all have complete faith in each other. That’s how we see it.
“Every time any one of us steps into the box, we feel like we are all going to suffer. Just be with each other and we’ll deal with it. ,
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