Thanks, Cubs! Eloy's grand slam sends the Sox to the win column in back-to-back nights
Even though these are exhibition games, it is exciting to see real-life baseball being played. For the second straight night, the Chicago White Sox took on the Chicago Cubs, but this game occurred on the South Side of town.
Plus, Tim Anderson was mic'd up for this game, so we all knew good things were in store for this Monday night game.
South Side Hit Pen stans TA7!
To begin the game, the first five hitters reached base, via four hits and a walk off of Cubbie hurler Yu Darvish. Yoán Moncada, in his return to the lineup, notched a base hit.
Oh yeah, that base hit was an RBI single that scored Tim Anderson.
José Abreu singled, and Edwin Encarnación walked to load the bases.
What came next!? Former member of the Cubs organization, Eloy Jiménez, ripped a grand slam to straightaway center field to give the Sox a very quick 5-0 lead!
Life comes at you fast:
It might be an exhibition game, but it's nice to see the kids play!
As the Sox's bats were on fire, Dallas Keuchel was throwing flames. He pitched a one-hit performance in five innings. He even notched two strikeouts, and I can't wait to see this kind of masterful pitching in meaningful games.
After the first inning, the Sox just tallied a hit here and there. An infield single in the fifth inning off of the bat of TA7 sent Darvish away for the night.
As for the Cubs's offense, it slumbered until a few errors helped it out.
Danny Mendick, in the seventh inning, committed back-to-back errors to give the Cubs their first run of the ball game, 5-1 Good Guys. Both times, Mendick was looking for the ground out double play, but both times, the White Sox did not record a single out.
These errors opened the door for an RBI single to make the score 5-2.
Zero outs and runners at the corners, the third time was the charm for Danny Mendick. He turned the 6-4-3 double play, but the Cubs did score a run, 5-3 White Sox.
Jimmy Cordero induced a ground out to end the inning.
Before I knew it, Alex Colomé was in for the save opportunity. He recorded two quick outs, gave up a double and a single, but he notched a flyout to right field to end the game. The Good Guys sweep the Bad Guys by a score of 5-3!
Game Notes
The Game's Sleeper: James McCann went 1-for-2 with a walk.
Something to worry about: Mendick's errors do prove worrisome, but he will bounce back.
The true highlight of the game:
Bullpen taking shape: Four innings of near-perfect baseball. Four hits and zero earned runs are very exciting to see leading into the regular season.
Tuesday will be intrasquad practice, but Wednesday, Chicago will see the Milwaukee Brewers in town for their last of the three exhibition games during this spring training 2.0. Our guy, James Fox, will be back in the ballpark with the insider details. Carlos Rodón will start.
I look forward to many more magical nights during this sprint of a season!