{"id":783231,"date":"2026-08-19T23:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/783231\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T23:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:45:18","slug":"city-series-3-takeaways-from-the-chicago-cubs-series-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/783231\/","title":{"rendered":"City Series: 3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ series win"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a day of little offensive production for the Chicago Cubs, every base runner was valuable against the White Sox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, when center fielder Tyrone Taylor made the calculation, following a leadoff double, to tag up on a fly ball to right fielder Braden Montgomery in the sixth inning, he needed to make sure the aggressive move paid off. Instead, with the Cubs facing a one-run deficit, Taylor misread Pete Crow-Armstrong\u2019s<\/a> liner to Montgomery.<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s missteps toward third while the ball was in flight delayed him getting back to second for the tag up. He was easily thrown out at third on Montgomery\u2019s 95.1 mph dart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a mental mistake,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cKids watching this: No outs when you\u2019re on second base, your job is to get to third on a fly ball and tag up. So, don\u2019t do what I did. \u2026 The aggression was right but just late to get back to tag.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the Cubs\u2019 only runner in scoring position until a defensive indifference allowed Seiya Suzuki to advance to second after a two-out walk in the ninth. They ultimately managed just two hits \u2014 both from Cubs No. 9 hitter Taylor \u2014 off the Sox\u2019s Sean Newcomb, Jos\u00e9 Urquidy and Grant Taylor in the 3-0 loss at Wrigley Field<\/a> as their attempt to complete the sweep fell short.<\/p>\n

\"MiguelMiguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox tags out Tyrone Taylor of the Chicago Cubs after trying to advance to third base during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field on Aug. 19, 2026 in Chicago. (Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Cubs (74-54) failed to homer Wednesday for only the third time in their last 19 games. As the Cubs head into Thursday\u2019s off day before a West Coast trip to Seattle and Phoenix, there are three takeaways from their series win over the White Sox.<\/p>\n

1. Clay Holmes showing why the Cubs acquired him.<\/p>\n

As a sinkerballer, right-hander Clay Holmes has been taking advantage of the Cubs\u2019 elite defense behind him, particularly in the infield.<\/p>\n

He racked up 12 groundball outs, including two double plays, compared to just one flyout. Holmes kept third baseman Alex Bregman especially busy. Bregman tallied six assists while Holmes was on the mound, leading the pitcher to call his performance \u201cspecial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with this defense, it always gives you a chance, and a lot of great plays out there,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cI have zero ounce of fear of getting the ball on the ground. I know that if I do that time and time again, a lot of good things are going to happen behind me. And even with the guys on, sinkerballers like myself, sometimes it\u2019s easy to feel like you have to shy away from it with runners on, run on first, run on second. But even with runners on, there\u2019s a lot of confidence that I can trust the contact that I get and the outs are going to be made. We saw it today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes delivered another great start Wednesday, holding the White Sox to one run in 5 1\/3 innings. In his last two starts, Holmes has surrendered only one run over 12 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been disgusting all season, man, and he\u2019s been disgusting here,\u201d said Taylor, who played with Holmes on the Mets. \u201cIt\u2019s been fun to play defense behind him and fun to watch him do his thing. He\u2019s a great pitcher and looking forward to more starts from him like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Cubs keep channeling the walk-off magic.
\n\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates with his team after hitting a walk-off, two-run home run to give the Cubs a 7-5 win against the White Sox during the 10th inning of the City Series at Wrigley Field, Aug. 17, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Cubs don\u2019t seem fazed by needing to rally<\/a> late at home.<\/p>\n

Their walk-off victories Monday and Tuesday against the White Sox moved the Cubs into their major league-leading 13\u00a0 walk-off wins this year, their most in a season since 2015 (also 13). They\u2019ve recorded more walk-offs just once in franchise history, when the Cubs finished with 14 in 1930, according to Elias Sports Bureau.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like our pitching staff\u2019s done a great job of giving us the opportunity to come through in those situations, and then offensively, we feel like we\u2019re never out of it, and I think how this offense was kind of built is just grinder at-bat after grinder at-bat, and guys that can hit the ball from line to line, work counts, get on base,\u201d Bregman said. \u201cI feel like guys are mature in their approach to not try and do too much in those spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two walk-offs also represented the first time the Cubs walked off the White Sox in consecutive games. Their six wins this season when trailing after eight innings tie the Cubs with the Cincinnati Reds for the most in the majors, while their 19-13 (.594) mark in one-run games is fourth best.<\/p>\n

3. Javier Assad continues to deliver in any role.
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs relief pitcher Javier Assad celebrates as he is taken out of the game in the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Aug. 18, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Javier Assad certainly wasn\u2019t expecting to be thrown into the tough situation Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

When right-hander Kevin Gausman departed mid-inning<\/a> in the fifth because of cramping in his left hand, Assad was summoned from the bullpen to take over and warm up on the mound. He gave the Cubs three shutout innings and allowed just two Sox hitters to reach base. Assad\u2019s performance kept the Cubs in the game, which ultimately ended on Bregman\u2019s walk-off single in the ninth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it be starting, and then since he\u2019s moved to the bullpen, he\u2019s just pitched really well,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s gotten outs in important spots. He\u2019s covered us with length. He\u2019s made important starts against tough lineups. So, he\u2019s pitched extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the damage Assad has allowed this year came from two outings in April when he gave up nine runs in an April 13 start against the Philadelphia Phillies and six runs during a three-inning relief appearance April 25 at Dodger Stadium. Aside from those games, Assad has posted a 2.00 ERA in 76 1\/3 innings. The Cubs are 18-4 in games when Assad pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a big part of piecing it together in a good way,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThis is how you put together good teams. It\u2019s not always going to be this cookie-cutter \u2018this is how it\u2019s going to be in terms of roles,\u2019 and I think you have to prepare for it not to be that way, and you have to understand that it\u2019s not going to be that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a day of little offensive production for the Chicago Cubs, every base runner was valuable against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[72,5,138,24,49,4245,12075,1712,161,96312,96313,159,389,4,256,1444,738],"class_list":["post-783231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-alex-bregman","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagocubs","tag-city-series","tag-clay-holmes","tag-cubs","tag-cubs-series-win","tag-cubs-walk-off","tag-javier-assad","tag-kevin-gausman","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-tyrone-taylor","tag-wrigley-field"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117124840058593561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783231","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=783231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}