Carson Kelly drilled a two-run double in the eighth inning that extended the Chicago Cubs’ lead to six, which not only gave Craig Counsell some extra breathing room, but it also drove White Sox fans out of Rate Field on Friday night. Round one of the Crosstown Classic was close until the late innings, when the Cubs took advantage of a poor White Sox bullpen and ultimately won decisively, 10-5, scoring six runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Kelly’s automatic double with the bases loaded was the backbreaker against the White Sox, who were able to battle back and tie the game at four in the sixth inning after trailing 4-1. However, Bryan Hudson, who was a stud until Friday, had a rough seventh, allowing four hits and two runs, and the real scapegoat, Jordan Hicks, who had no clear idea where he was throwing the ball in the eighth. Kelly had the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh, reaching on an infield single with the bases loaded that Miguel Vargas couldn’t glove by the line behind third base.
Then, the big blow. After the Cubs had taken an 8-4 lead, Kelly drove in two more and made White Sox fans head toward the exits.
After a brutal five-game stretch for the offense, the Cubs exploded against the White Sox on Friday night. They had 14 hits, walked six times, and were 6-for-14 hitting with runners in scoring position, leading to 10 runs. Dating back to Sunday’s series finale against the Texas Rangers through Thursday’s series finale against the Atlanta Braves, the Cubs only scored five runs and collected a total of 19 hits.
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Luckily for the Cubs, White Sox manager Will Venable only used his best reliever for one inning as Grant Taylor retired the side in order in the sixth. Hudson wasn’t sharp, but the biggest crime was leaving in Hicks for as long as he did. After a leadoff by Dansby Swanson and a groundout by Nico Hoerner that moved Swanson to third with one out, Hicks proceeded to throw a wild pitch, walk two straight batters, record a strikeout, walk two more batters in a row before Venable finally came out to make a pitching change.
After all that shit-talking from White Sox fans leading up to the series opener on Friday night, it’s a shame that they couldn’t all stick around for the full nine innings. They ended up missing Jarred Kelenic’s 446-foot blast to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning.
