{"id":700191,"date":"2026-05-16T05:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/700191\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T05:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:00:17","slug":"city-series-cubs-are-better-late-in-10-5-win-over-white-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/700191\/","title":{"rendered":"City Series: Cubs are better late in 10-5 win over White Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City Series always has juice.<\/p>\n

But there was a noticeable additional buzz Friday that had been missing from some of the more recent gathers.<\/p>\n

For the first time since June 2008, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the White Sox and Cubs met with both teams above the .500 mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go White Sox\u201d echoed throughout the ballpark in the sixth inning shortly after a tying home run by third baseman Miguel Vargas.<\/p>\n

Game 1 photos: Cubs beat White Sox 10-5 in City Series at Rate Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And Cubs fans in attendance began a \u201cPCA\u201d chant when Pete Crow-Armstrong made his way to the plate in the seventh, drowned out by boos from Sox fans.<\/p>\n

The teams matched the electric atmosphere for much of the evening, with the score tied through six innings.<\/p>\n

But the Cubs broke loose late, scoring twice in the seventh and four more in the eighth to defeat the Sox 10-5 in front of a sellout crowd of 38,723 at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

Catcher Carson Kelly had two singles, a double and four RBIs, leading the Cubs\u2019 14-hit attack. He broke the 4-all tie with a run-scoring infield hit in the seventh. And then he put the game out of reach with a two-run, ground-rule double in the eighth.<\/p>\n

Every starter in the Cubs lineup had at least one hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got a lot of guys on base, a lot of traffic and then timely hitting,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cIt always just usually comes down to timely hitting and getting some traffic. All in all just a really good game for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox pitcher Bryan Hudson heads to the mound after loading the bases in the seventh inning against the Cubs on May 15, 2026, at Rate Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Sox bullpen, which had been reliable lately, didn\u2019t get the big outs down the stretch as the team\u2019s five-game winning streak came to an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust with their lineup, they make it really tough on you to the point where you feel like you have to be perfect and can\u2019t make any mistakes,\u201d Sox manager Will Venable said. \u201cA couple mistakes there, and they were able to create a lot of traffic, and obviously we weren\u2019t able to get the outs when we needed them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortstop Colson Montgomery, Vargas and right fielder Jarred Kelenic homered in the loss.<\/p>\n

Column: Mystery of the missing Crosstown Cup doesn\u2019t damper enthusiasm for the City Series<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sox starter Sean Burke failed to get out of the fifth, allowing four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 4 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of liked how my stuff was, I thought I did a pretty good job of getting ahead of guys for the most part,\u201d Burke said. \u201cThey did a pretty good job of hitting some of my pitches too. I don\u2019t think other than the first inning, the cutter I threw to (Ian) Happ (resulting in an RBI single), the rest of their hits were on pretty good pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of frustrating outing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs didn\u2019t get length out of their starter either. Edward Cabrera lasted 4 2\/3 innings, allowing three runs on three hits with two strikeouts and three walks. Two of the walks led to runs in the fifth as the Sox pulled within 4-3.<\/p>\n

Vargas tied the score with a home run to right field leading off sixth against reliever Ryan Rolison.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo tie the game with a homer feels really good,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cWe were fighting for the tie and to take the lead in the game. It was a good moment, and I was feeling good to have helped my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018He wants to be in the middle of everything\u2019: Chase Meidroth providing energy for Chicago White Sox<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A Montgomery single and a walk to second baseman Chase Meidroth followed, but Trent Thornton entered and got a forceout, a strikeout and lineout to keep the score tied at 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s opportunities there to take the lead,\u201d Venable said. \u201cThese guys have been doing a good job of continuing to battle, having quality at-bats. It just wasn\u2019t enough tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs made the most of their opportunity in the seventh. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kelly hit a hard grounder down the third-base line that Vargas couldn\u2019t handle for a run-scoring infield single to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead. The run snapped Bryan Hudson\u2019s 19-game scoreless streak spanning 17 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

Crow-Armstrong followed with a sharp single to center, scoring Seiya Suzuki to make it 6-4 before Matt Shaw was thrown out at the plate.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox manager Will Venable, left, takes reliever Jordan Hicks out of the game in the eighth inning against the Cubs on May 15, 2026, at Rate Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Sox reliever Jordan Hicks walked four and allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning as the Cubs put the game out of reach in the eighth. A run scored on a wild pitch and a walk with Hicks on the mound. He exited with the bases loaded, and Kelly drove in two with his double against Tyler Schweitzer, making it 10-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time I can\u2019t really go through five or six innings, it puts the bullpen in a tough situation,\u201d Burke said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the frustration too. Not able to get those quick innings I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs (29-16) went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position while sending the Sox back to .500 at 22-22.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played a good offensive game tonight, for sure,\u201d Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cI know it\u2019s been a little bit light the last four or five days, but we played a really good offensive game all around. We made it hard every at-bat. \u2026 A bunch of hits, walks, baserunning was really good. It was a very good offensive night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City Series always has juice. But there was a noticeable additional buzz Friday that had been missing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,7584,34,1001,138,24,49,2561,12075,10448,576,88178,733,4914,36,1043,204,37,4154,4,35,8052,2003,105,41313,396,2562,998],"class_list":["post-700191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-baseball","tag-bryan-hudson","tag-carson-kelly","tag-chase-meidroth","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-city-series","tag-colson-montgomery","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs-sox","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-edward-cabrera","tag-ian-happ","tag-jarred-kelenic","tag-jordan-hicks","tag-michael-busch","tag-miguel-vargas","tag-mlb","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-ryan-rolison","tag-sean-burke","tag-seiya-suzuki","tag-tyler-schweitzer","tag-white-sox","tag-whitesox","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116582496647856397","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}