Cubs 10, White Sox 6: Here comes the sun...
Source: Bleed Cubbie Blue
Author: Al Yellon
MESA, Arizona -- The normally sure-handed Pete Crow-Armstrong got a bit messed up by a bright, sunny afternoon at Sloan Park Friday afternoon, losing two baseballs in the sun that helped lead to a four-run White Sox inning.
The Cubs, though, came back from that with the big blow a three-run homer from Owen Caissie, and defeated the White Sox 10-6, winning over their crosstown rivals for the second straight Friday.
Justin Steele started this one and threw two pretty good innings, then caused himself a bit of trouble in the third by failing to pick up a dribbler down the first-base line that went for a hit. A double followed, sending the runner to third, but a following fly ball that would have been the third out if Steele had fielded that grounder scored a run instead, and then Steele wild-pitched in a second Sox run. Still, I thought overall it was a good outing for Steele.
The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Yan Gomes hit a one-out double and one out later, scored on this single by Matt Shaw:
PCA got hit by a pitch after that, and Caissie singled to load the bases. David Bote drew a bases-loaded walk to make the score 2-2.
In the top of the fifth, the Sox plated four runs. Three doubles were hit in the inning. The first got by PCA, though that wasn't a misplay. The other two doubles were balls that PCA lost in the sun. After the second one, he threw his glove down, Ted Lilly-style, angry with himself. Hey, it happens. There was a very tough sun to play Friday afternoon, and I'm sure PCA will figure out how to play those. It does, I think, show that PCA needs more time at Triple-A Iowa, at least to start the year.
Here's one of those dropped fly balls, with the call from old friend Len Kasper [VIDEO].
Meanwhile, that gave Javier Assad a pretty bad pitching line, five hits and four earned runs in two innings, but I thought Assad threw pretty well overall. The doubles largely weren't his fault.
The Cubs came right back from that 6-2 deficit. Seiya Suzuki led off the fifth with a walk, and Michael Busch followed with another base on balls. Yan Gomes singled in a run, and during Gomes' at-bat, Suzuki took third on a wild pitch and Busch stole second. Miles Mastrobuoni hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4, and then Caissie smashed this opposite-field home run [VIDEO].
Caissie is the real deal. Obviously he's still a ways away from the major leagues -- he won't turn 22 until July -- but you can see the talent every time he takes the field.
After the Cubs took that 7-6 lead, Julian Merryweather, Jose Cuas, Colten Brewer and Riley Thompson combined for four scoreless relief innings, allowing three hits with no walks and two strikeouts. It was especially good to see Merryweather throw strikes.
The Cubs tacked on two more in the sixth, both runs scoring on a weird play. With the bases loaded and one out, Luis Vazquez grounded to third. Sox third baseman Bryan Ramos threw home for a forceout, but catcher Chuckie Robinson's throw to first went deep into right field, and two runs scored before Vazquez was tagged out near second base, the double play going 5-2-9-4-6-4.
One more Cubs run scored in the eighth. With one out, Alexander Canario singled, then advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jordan Nwogu. Nwogu, the Cubs' second-round pick out of Michigan in 2020, has had injury issues, never playing 100 games in a pro season. He'll turn 25 next week; he hit for power -- 16 HR in 97 games for Double-A Tennessee last year -- but batted just .197. He'll have to show something this year to stick around in pro ball.
Attendance on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon in Mesa was 12,088. For five home dates the Cubs have sold 56,054 tickets, or 11,211 per date.
The Cubs will travel to the west valley Saturday to face the Dodgers at Glendale, the only time they'll face L.A. this spring. Shōta Imanaga will make his Cubs spring debut. At this writing the Dodgers did not have a starter listed for Saturday. I can also report to you that Jameson Taillon will start Sunday in Mesa against the Guardians.
Game time Saturday is 2:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.