Want the latest baseball news? Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune<\/a> to read it all \u2014 and sign up for our Cubs Insider<\/a>\u00a0and White Sox Insider<\/a> newsletters.<\/p>\n Devastating earthquakes have Cubs\u2019 Venezuelans thinking of their home country Pedro Ram\u00edrez first learned of the devastation to Venezuela, his home country, between games of the Cubs\u2019 doubleheader Wednesday.<\/p>\n He received a text from his mom telling him there had been an earthquake, and Ram\u00edrez learned from teammate and fellow Venezuelan Daniel Palencia during Game 2 that the situation there had become much worse. Two devastating earthquakes<\/a> within a minute, both registering above 7.0 magnitude, in the northern part of the country have killed nearly 200 people \u2014 with that number expected to grow \u2014 and injured hundreds more while displacing thousands.<\/p>\n The Venezuelan families of Ram\u00edrez, Palencia, Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros and coaches Jonathan Mota and Erick Castillo are OK. The Cubs have reached out to others in the organization with connections in the country to confirm they, too, are all right.<\/p>\n Ram\u00edrez was concerned briefly when he texted his mother after their second game Wednesday and didn\u2019t immediately get a response but eventually heard back. He managed to start Game 2 despite the worry and concern for his family, friends and country.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried to stay calm before the game, I tried to focus on the game and to go out there and perform,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said through an interpreter. \u201cI almost tried to forget about what was going on, so I could focus in the game, but it\u2019s inevitable to think about what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s difficult when your country\u2019s going through something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ram\u00edrez, Palencia and Cubs coaches had a \u201cVZ\u201d embroidered on their hats for Thursday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine what was going around in his head,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cJust trying to support those guys and try to understand they\u2019ve got a lot going on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Ram\u00edrez and the Cubs\u2019 other Venezuelans have been able to lean on each other, especially during difficult times like this. Ram\u00edrez has had to adapt to the unknowns since he left his home in Temblador, Venezuela, at 12 years old to play baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned to live like that, to be away from them, and it\u2019s it\u2019s difficult because you\u2019re far away from them and whenever they don\u2019t respond to you, you always get worried,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said. \u201cBecause you don\u2019t know what happens to your family once you\u2019re far away.\u201d<\/p>\n Randal Grichuk loves White Sox\u2019s resiliency Randal Grichuk had one thing on his mind after Braden Montgomery homered to bring the Sox within a run with two outs in the ninth inning Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to go deep,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, I was thinking about it the whole inning before. Somebody get on and let me try to do it, if somebody doesn\u2019t do it before me.\u201d<\/p>\n Grichuk followed Montgomery\u2019s homer with one of his own, tying the score.<\/p>\n \u201c(Guardians closer Cade Smith is) one of the best, all the credit to him,\u201d said Grichuk, who is hitting .300 with nine home runs and 20 RBIs in 36 games since signing a one-year deal with the Sox on May 4. \u201cThese days happen. But, yeah, we put together a couple of good ABs on him.\u201d<\/p>\n The rally forced extra innings, where the Sox lost 4-3 in 10. Still, Grichuk loves the resiliency the Sox are showing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe play until the last out,\u201d the outfielder\/designated hitter said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep fighting regardless of the situation. We\u2019ve seen it many times, down four, five, six, put together a run late in the game. Definitely fighting until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether he\u2019s surprised by the team\u2019s ability to consistently claw its way back into games, Grichuk said: \u201cI\u2019m going to say yes because baseball\u2019s hard and it\u2019s not an easy thing to do. (And) no from the standpoint of I know the heart, I know the competitors that are in here and I know the talent that\u2019s in here. But baseball is a hard game and it\u2019s not that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sox won two of three in the series<\/a> and enter the weekend tied for first place with the Guardians in the American League Central.<\/p>\n \u201cWe took the series from a team that we\u2019re battling for first place,\u201d Grichuk said. \u201cPlayed it tough, could\u2019ve swept them, which is huge.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of confidence. I know we have some down guys in here (in the clubhouse after Wednesday\u2019s loss), but enjoy the off day (Thursday) and come back Friday and be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Number of the week: 3<\/p>\n Grichuk hit his third pinch-hit home run of the season leading off the sixth inning Monday against the Guardians. It\u2019s the most for a Sox player since Daniel Palka<\/a> hit a team-record four in 2018.<\/p>\n Week ahead: Cubs<\/p>\n Friday: at Brewers, 6:45 p.m., Apple TV Left-hander Shota Imanaga always has been a fly-ball pitcher.<\/p>\n Inherently that will result in some home runs. But there is a line between it being a natural part of how his pitch mix plays in the majors and being a consistent detriment. After not allowing any home runs in back-to-back starts against the Colorado Rockies, even conquering Coors Field\u2019s hitter-friendly park, Imanaga surrendered three in Wednesday\u2019s Game 2 win over the New York Mets.<\/p>\n His 20 home runs allowed are tied with teammate Jameson Taillon for second-most in Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s hits and the hits are homers, unfortunately,\u201d Counsell said after Imanaga\u2019s outing. \u201cObviously that means some runs on the board, but he\u2019s not giving up a lot of hits. There\u2019s not a lot of baserunners. There were some good things.\u201d<\/p>\n While Imanaga ultimately helped the Cubs get the win and doubleheader sweep Wednesday, he was not satisfied by giving up so many home runs. He believes the long-ball issues stem from both poor location and pitch choice.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking at it I think there\u2019s more space to throw pitches in better locations,\u201d Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. \u201cI threw a couple mistake pitches, and they hit it for damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Week ahead: White Sox Friday: vs. Royals, 6:40 p.m., CHSN Sean Newcomb threw 42 pitches over three hitless innings after getting the starting nod for the Sox in a bullpen game Saturday in Detroit.<\/p>\n He was called on as a reliever Tuesday against the Guardians and threw 45 pitches in 2 2\/3 hitless innings while collecting the save.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pen was kind of taxed (Monday), so I knew I could be big for this club,\u201d Newcomb said after Tuesday\u2019s 2-1 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n Newcomb, 33, has aided the Sox in various ways since signing a one-year deal in the offseason. He has a 2.44 ERA with two saves, 46 strikeouts and 12 walks in 48 innings over 30 appearances (one start).<\/p>\n He also has been one of the veterans the young team has leaned on.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of try to take after one of the vets I grew up with, Nick Markakis,\u201d Newcomb said. \u201cHe came in, did his work, was one of the hardest workers and just led by example and he was always there to talk if needed.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s more quiet, so I feel like that fits my mold. Try to lead by example, put in the hard work and be there as someone to talk to that\u2019s been through a lot of the situations that they\u2019re going to be going through.\u201d<\/p>\n What we\u2019re reading today<\/p>\n Quotable<\/p>\n \u201cEvery player is aware of how they\u2019re producing and helping the team, and he\u2019s someone that you know cares about this group as much as anybody. And his work behind the scenes has been so consistent and persistent, but that still doesn\u2019t guarantee results. But, man, does it feel good when those come through, and to see someone like that have a historic stretch of games here has just been a lot of fun to watch. I\u2019m so happy for him.\u201d \u2014 Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner on shortstop Dansby Swanson\u2019s historic 11-RBI performance<\/a> in Wednesday\u2019s doubleheader<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs head into an importance series in Milwaukee riding some momentum after taking the first three games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,49,4245,576,161,888,733,91578,47839,4,1896,33,45122,1448,751],"class_list":["post-735994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagocubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-daniel-palencia","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-erick-castillo","tag-jonathan-mota","tag-mlb","tag-moises-ballesteros","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-pedro-ramirez","tag-randal-grichuk","tag-sean-newcomb"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116816138012716923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735994","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=735994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Residents](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/APTOPIX_Venezuela_Earthquake_73961_eb65ff.jpg\")
Residents walk among the rubble of buildings damaged from earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, on Thursday, June 25, 2026. (Pedro Mattey\/AP)<\/p>\n
\n![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ctc-l-white-sox_8b4ea4.jpg\")
White Sox designated hitter Randal Grichuk celebrates a home run in the ninth inning against the Guardians on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at Rate Field. (Josh Boland\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\nSaturday: at Brewers, 6:10 p.m., Marquee
\nSunday: at Brewers, 1:10 p.m., Marquee
\nMonday: vs. Padres, 7:05 p.m., Marquee
\nTuesday: vs. Padres, 7:05 p.m., Marquee
\nWednesday: vs. Padres, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
\nThursday: off<\/p>\n![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-Z-CUBS-SHOTA.jpg\")
Cubs starter Shota Imanaga reacts as the Mets’ Mark Vientos rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the fourth inning in Game 2 of a doubleheader Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in New York. (Frank Franklin II\/AP)<\/p>\n
\n![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ctc-l-white-sox_1aa7f6.jpg\")
White Sox reliever Sean Newcomb and catcher Drew Romo celebrate after securing a victory over the Guardians in the ninth inning Tuesday, June 23, 2026, at Rate Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\nSaturday: vs. Royals, 3:10 p.m., CHSN
\nSunday: vs. Royals, 1:10 p.m., CHSN
\nMonday: at Orioles, 5:35 p.m., CHSN
\nTuesday: at Orioles, 5:35 p.m., CHSN
\nWednesday: at Orioles, 11:35 a.m., CHSN
\nThursday: at Guardians, 5:40 p.m., CHSN<\/p>\n