Cubs 5, White Sox 4: You keep me hangin’ on

The Cubs put together a big lead but had to hang on in the ninth.

Hey, look! Ben Brown had a really nice outing.

Hey, look! Nico Hoerner made a really smart defensive play and had a pair of hits and a walk.

And the Cubs took a 5-1 lead into the eighth inning, but had to win a nail-biter after Daniel Palencia hit a batter with two out in the ninth.

Nevertheless, Palencia persevered, and the Cubs defeated the White Sox 5-4, winning the series and maintaining a first-place tie with the Brewers, who came from behind to beat the Marlins. (We should still thank the Marlins for taking two of three in Milwaukee.)

The Cubs got on the board quickly in the first inning off Sox opener Grant Taylor. (An odd choice to use a right-handed opener with three of the first four Cubs hitters being left-handed.)

Kyle Tucker doubled with one out and Seiya Suzuki followed with a walk. Pete Crow-Armstrong then sneaked this double down the third-base line and both runners scored [VIDEO].

PCA then stole third, but was stranded.

Ben Brown served up a home run to Andrew Benintendi with two out in the first, but after that was excellent. He allowed just two more hits in completing a nice five-inning outing. He got some help from an outstanding smart play by Nico. There were two Sox runners on base with one out in the bottom of the second when Brown got Chase Meidroth to pop a ball near Nico in the infield. The umpires signaled “infield fly” and then this happened [VIDEO].

You can hear Jim Deshaies say “smart baseball” on the clip and indeed, that’s exactly what it was. The batter is out once the umpires signal “infield fly” and runners can advance at their own risk, which is what Lenyn Sosa tried after Nico let the ball drop. Sosa was easily thrown out at third for a double play. You don’t see it on that clip, but Sox third base coach Justin Jirschele spent some time after the play talking with Sosa about what to do, and likely what NOT to do, on plays like that.

Here’s Nico on that play:

The Cubs extended their lead in the sixth. Carson Kelly led off with a single and one out later, advanced to second on an infield out. That was important, because he was able to score on this single by Nico [VIDEO].

Matt Shaw followed with an RBI double to make it 4-0 [VIDEO].

Caleb Thielbar threw an efficient 1-2-3 sixth and Drew Pomeranz allowed a pair of hits in the seventh before being removed for Ryan Brasier, who finished off the inning.

The Cubs then plated a very important insurance run in the eighth in a very weird way. Ian Happ walked with one out and stole second as Dansby Swanson struck out. Then Hoerner walked to put runners on first and second with two out.

Then this happened [VIDEO].

Nico got picked off, and tried to stick in a rundown long enough to allow Happ to score. Which he tried to do, and then the throw home sent Happ back to third, where he ran into Sox third baseman Colson Montgomery.

Montgomery was called for interference and Happ was sent to score the Cubs’ fifth run. That would prove to be extremely important.

Brasier stayed in the game and retired the first two hitters he faced. I’d have thought Craig Counsell would have had Brad Keller up just in case, but Brasier then allowed a single, double and three-run homer by Benintendi, his second of the game. That made it 5-4 and required the summoning of Daniel Palencia. Palencia struck out Miguel Vargas to end the eighth.

This, clearly, was a multi-inning save situation for Palencia. He retired the first two White Sox in the ninth easily, then hit Luis Robert Jr., putting the tying run on base.

Calmly, Palencia induced this ground ball to end the game [VIDEO].

This White Sox team is pretty tenacious. They are improved over last year — in fact, they’re improved from when the Cubs swept them in May. Taking five of six is what a good team like the Cubs should do against a not-good team like the Sox. Meanwhile, again, many thanks to the Marlins for their series win in Milwaukee. I told you the Brewers were not invincible while they were on their 11-game winning streak, and despite their comeback win Sunday, they’re not.

A couple more things about this game before I wrap this recap. First, about Brown’s outing — he was excellent. After Benintendi’s first homer, he seemed well in command of his pitches and got a few changeups over the plate for strikes. I am very encouraged, even if the Cubs make a deal that would likely put him in the bullpen.

And a couple of facts about this win from BCB’s JohnW53:

This was the Cubs’ 26th game with at least five walks, but their first in 14 games, since an 8-1 loss at Minnesota on July 8. At that point, they had averaged one every 3.64 games.

This was the Cubs’ 23rd game decided by one run. They began the day tied with the Tiges for the fewest, 22, the last of which had been on July 3, by 1-0 in 10 innings at home over the Guardians. Today’s game was their 18th since then. The Cubs are 15-8 in those 23 one-run games.

Last note on the series on the South Side: The crowds seemed all at least half Cubs fans. There was some good-natured poking back and forth between Cubs and Sox fans, but no fights, at least not that I could tell. For me personally… happy to be done with them for 2025.

And now, to the important series against the Brewers in Milwaukee. The Cubs are 3-2 against the Brewers so far this year, including taking two of three in the first series in Milwaukee back in May. Matthew Boyd will take the mound for the Cubs in the series opener Monday evening, and he will face Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski, who the Cubs will be seeing for the first time. Game time Monday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.