White Sox 5, Cubs 3: Luis Robert Jr. goes yard again

The White Sox (48-72) beat the Cubs (61-58) in a close game Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. As a result, the South Siders still have a chance to tie the season series tomorrow.

Six Pack of Stats

FanGraphs

Pressure Play

When Nico Hoerner got caught stealing in the seventh inning, that play had a 2.58 LI, making it the play of highest leverage.

Pressure Cooker

Aaron Bummer, who pitched 1 1⁄3 scoreless innings, had a 1.86 LI to lead the way.

Top Play

The go-ahead solo home run by Luis Robert Jr. boosted the White Sox’s win probability from 43.8% to 65.9% (22.1% WPA).

Top Performer

Luis Robert Jr. had the highest WPA (19.3%) out of all players, which is no surprise given the impact of his home run.

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Hardest Hit

Seiya Suzuki’s home run left the bat at 110.5 mph to edge out the blast by Luis Robert Jr. (110.0 mph).

Weakest Contact

The bunt single by Zach Remillard had an exit velocity of 28.7 mph. If we exclude that, Remillard’s ground out in the fourth left the bat at 56.9 mph.

Luckiest Hit

Eloy Jiménez hit an infield single in the first inning with a .130 xBA.

Toughest Out

Andrew Vaughn’s line out in the third registered a .650 xBA.

Longest Hit

Luis Robert Jr. launched a home run in the seventh inning that went 422 feet.

Magic Number: 6

The White Sox have now won six consecutive games at Wrigley Field. Can they make it seven tomorrow? If they do, then the season series will end in a tie.

The White Sox offense did not need much time to get on the board against starter Kyle Hendricks. Andrew Benintendi drew a one-out walk in the top of the first, and Luis Robert Jr. followed with a single that was hit fairly softly. Eloy Jiménez loaded the bases with a grounder to third that was very nicely placed. Third baseman Jeimer Candelario made a nice stop on a ball that could have gone far down the left field line. However, Candelario had no chance of getting anyone out, so the bases were loaded with one out. Then, Yoán Moncada hit a soft grounder to the right side. The Cubs got the out at second, but Moncada beat the throw to first, so the White Sox had a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs did not stay behind for long. Mike Tauchman drew a leadoff walk from starter Touki Toussaint. After a ground out that advanced Tauchman to second, Ian Happ saw a slider that did not break as much as Toussaint would have wanted. Happ took advantage with his 14th home run this season and his second in three games against the White Sox. Happ’s blast gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead, and after one inning, Toussaint had already thrown 28 pitches.

However, the White Sox did not allow that early lead to remain intact, either. Yasmani Grandal led off the top of the second with a single, and he advanced to second on a soft ground out by Oscar Colás. Zach Remillard proceeded to lay a perfect bunt down the third base line for a single, and after he stole second, the White Sox had two in scoring position. Then, Elvis Andrus delivered a single to left that put the South Siders back in front, 3-2.

In the fourth, with the White Sox still leading by a run, Toussaint failed once again to keep the ball in the park. Toussaint hung a breaking ball to Seiya Suzuki, who crushed a no-doubt home run to left to tie the game at three. Toussaint made it through the fourth inning without any further damage. However, after issuing a leadoff walk (his fifth walk of the game) to open the bottom of the fifth, Toussaint’s outing was over.

After six innings, Hendricks was done, and the score was still 3-3. Julian Merryweather took over on the mound for the North Siders, and he retired the first two batters he faced. However, the third batter who faced Merryweather was Robert, who is pretty good at this whole baseball thing. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Merryweather made a mistake, and Robert hit the daylights out of it.

Meanwhile, Tanner Banks and Lane Ramsey, each threw a scoreless inning from the bullpen, so entering the bottom of the seventh, the White Sox had a 4-3 lead. With Aaron Bummer on the mound, the situation got a bit precarious after the speedy Nico Hoerner hit an infield single with one out. Hoerner had already stolen a base earlier in the game for his 30th steal this season. However, Hoerner’s attempt for steal No. 31 was unsuccessful, as Yasmani Grandal made a phenomenal throw, and Remillard’s glove was in the perfect spot to tag Hoerner out.

In the top of the ninth, the White Sox managed to add some insurance against reliever Adbert Alzolay. Still ahead by one, Elvis Andrus sliced a single to get on base with two outs. Andrus proceeded to steal second base, and Andrew Benintendi drove him in with a clutch single to make the score 5-3.

Gregory Santos continued his dominant ways in relief. In addition to getting the last two outs of the eighth, he closed the door in the bottom of the ninth. Santos retired all three batters in the final frame to seal the victory.

The final game of the season series will take place at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. NBC Sports Chicago and WMVP 1000 AM will cover the game, and the first pitch is scheduled to happen at 7:05 p.m. Central.