Super Nova and Eloy power a win on the South Side

We needed a strong outing from Iván Nova, and that’s exactly what we got. Nova went 5 ²⁄₃ innings, giving up five hits, one walk, striking out four, and most importantly, holding the Chicago Cubs scoreless, spurring a surprisingly easy, 3-1 win for the Chicago White Sox to wind up the first half.

In his two starts against the Cubs this season, Nova has a 0.84 ERA. The veteran righthander’s ERA against the rest of the league is 6.15. Hey, Don Cooper, just tell the guy every outing that he's pitching against the Cubs!

The offenses for both teams was held silent until the fourth inning. After a Jon Jay single leading off, Eloy Jiménez sliced a 1-0 inside sinker just foul, missing a home run off Kyle Hendricks. Four pitches later, Eloy got another sinker that didn’t drop, only this time it was over the heart of the plate; goodbye, baseball, deep to dead center, giving the White Sox a 2-0 lead.

Me at 1:24 PM:

Eloy one hour later:

Hendricks lasted just four innings, giving up two earned runs, four hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Hendricks was looking shaky, as he is fresh off the IL. He seemed to be missing location on pitches, which ended up costing him. In the fifth, Randy Rosario took over for two outs, and then came Brad Brach. José Abreu, of the 16-homer, 66-RBI first-half Abreus, greeted Brach with an oppo taco to make the game 3-0.

The lone run the Cubs scored was a solo shot from Robel García off of Aaron Bummer. That was just the second home run Bummer has given up in 27 appearances.

Who else other than one of our All-Star snubs, Alex Colomé, to come in to save the game in the ninth. Jason Heyward singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. But it was no problem for Colomé, as he got Victor Caratini to ground into a double play to secure the game and his 20th save of the season.

It always feels good to take on against the pesky North Siders, but it also feels good to get the win going into the All-Star break.

Daniel Palka was optioned to Charlotte after the game today, and the White Sox will make a corresponding roster move before Friday’s game. Yoán Moncada extended his hit streak to 13 games today, which is the longest active hitting streak in the MLB. Moncada will look to stretch it to 14 games when the South Siders are back in action Friday at the Oakland Athletics.

Our three All-Stars were presented their jerseys as they head to Cleveland this week. Looking forward to seeing this well-deserving trio rock these jerseys on Tuesday.

And there’s more exciting stuff from Cleveland! Tune in to MLB Network at 6 p.m. CT to see Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal ball out in the Futures Game.

Meanwhile, I’ll just be here twiddling my thumbs all week until White Sox baseball is back on Friday.

The first half of the season has exceeded my expectations, and I’m thinking the second half will be even more exciting than the first.