The Crosstown Classic started with a soul-crushing extra-inning heartbreak for the White Sox with a Cubs walk-off. Despite the game staying close and competitive, poor challenges and sloppy defense doomed the South Siders. The Sox fell 7-5 in the opener.
The game got off to an ugly start after the White Sox went down in order and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki answered with back-to-back homers. With two outs, the Cubs threatened again with back-to-back singles, but Pedro Ramírez sent a ball right to Brenton Doyle, ending the first.
After wasting an ABS challenge to start the third, Sam Antonacci reached anyway when he was plunked. But that wouldn’t yield any good results, as Shōta Imanaga shut down the next three White Sox batters. Luis Castillo seemed to have settled in by the bottom of the third, and the guys behind him helped strand the only baserunner in the frame.
The first hit for the White Sox came in the fourth via Miguel Vargas, right after a walk to Munetaka Murakami. Then, with one swing of the bat, Randal Grichuk gave the Good Guys the lead with a three-run homer.
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Suzuki started the bottom of the fifth with a walk, and as we all know, leadoff walks will always come back to haunt. Alex Bregman singled, and Ian Happ grounded into a force out that placed him on first and Suzuki on third. An infield single by Nico Hoerner brought Suzuki home, and Vargas made a wild throw to first. Happ scored on the error, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead before Tyler Schweitzer replaced Castillo and escaped without further damage.
Schweitzer struggled a little with his command in the bottom of the sixth but came out unscathed after allowing a walk and a single. Ryan Rolison came in for the Cubs in the seventh and got two quick outs but was pulled after walking Jake Rogers. Ryan Zeferjahn stepped in and got the last out as Chase Meidroth hit right to short. With two on and two outs, Rogers caught Bregman trying to steal home, firing to Vargas for the tag to end the inning.
Murakami walked to start the eighth. With one out, Andrew Benintendi became the hero with a massive two-run homer to make it 5-4.
Trevor Richards, who came in midway through the seventh, kept the Cubs mostly quiet, despite a double to PCA. Jordan Hicks stepped in and took Suzuki down after a full count with a 102-mph pitch to end the eighth.
Luisangel Acuña started the ninth with a walk, but a double play off the bat of Rogers would give the South Siders two quick outs. They went down in order as Meidroth, who did not have a great night, went down swinging. With one out in the bottom of the frame, Hicks issued back-to-back walks, the second coming on a questionable call. Unfortunately, the Sox had already burned through their challenges, so there was nothing they could do but live with it. Hoerner singled, and after Tristan Peters bobbled the ball, Tyrone Taylor scored to tie the game. The White Sox intentionally walked Pedro Ramírez, loading the bases with one out. Hicks got Miguel Amaya to go down swinging for the second out. A ground ball straight to Vargas ended the frame, sending an already tense game into extras.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the 10th inning started with a leadoff walk, this time to Murakami. The following two batters struck out swinging, and Braden Montgomery nearly followed them. However, Braden used the extra-innings challenge to overturn strike three, giving him a walk that loaded the bases. Alas, a soft grounder to first from Peters would end the inning without driving in a run.
Hagen Smith stepped in for the White Sox in the bottom of the 10th and had to deal with the top of the order. His night didn’t last long, as Crow-Armstrong’s walk-off homer on the fourth pitch ended it.
MVP
Randal Grichuk: 1 Hr, 3 RBI
Runners-Up
Andrew Benintendi: 1-for-2, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Munetaka Murakami: 3 BB
Jake Rogers: 2 BB
Cold Cat
Luis Castillo: 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Runners-Up
Miguel Vargas: Throwing errors, 1 H, 2 K
Will Venable: Putting Hagen Smith on the mound against PCA
Chase Meidroth: 0-for-5, 4 K