Chicago Cubs fight back late in win over the White Sox

The Chicago White Sox managed to claim the first two games of the Crosstown Classic on the South Side over the Chicago Cubs. They both returned to the North Side with Jason Hammel on the mound and plenty of familiar faces in the stands.

Former Chicago Bears quarterback and current Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh tossed out the first pitch to outfielder Matt Szczur and even signed the cleats that he laced up prior to taking the mound.

Also, recently signed Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade and his wife, actress Gabriel Union, were in attendance alongside longtime Chicago Bears corner Charles “Peanut” Tillman who conducted the seventh inning stretch.

Now, tonight was a little frustrating early on considering the pitching match-up between the two clubs. You had Jason Hammel (10-5, 3.23 ERA) riding a two-game winning streak going up against Anthony Ranaudo (1-1, 8.71 ERA) making his White Sox (50-51) debut.

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Both men battled pitch-for-pitch but it was the Cubs (60-40) who were unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position early on. On top of being unable to record a hit until Kris Bryant launched his 26th home run of the season in the home half of the sixth.

Hammel was brilliant tonight despite giving up a solo home run to the opposing pitcher. It was one of four hits that the South Siders would string together through seven innings of work. He walked only two batter’s while striking out seven before making way for Maddon’s former closer, Hector Rondon.

With the game deadlocked at one a piece, Jason Heyward kept the Cubs alive with a two-out single in the eighth, opening the door for Javier Baez. Baez clobbered his 11th big fly of the season — a two-run homer that gave the Cubs their first lead of this year’s Crosstown Classic.

The Cubs were not done scoring as they managed to push across five runners just an inning later which featured Addison Russell‘s first career grand slam. The North Siders now have four grand slams on the year.

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Recently acquired closer Aroldis Chapman took the mound in the top of the ninth despite having a seven-run lead in his back pocket. Chapman was picked up in a trade with the New York Yankees on Monday and has not had the chance to pitch until this evening.

He started things out by hitting the radar gun with a 101 MPH fastball for a strike and got Jose Abreu to strike out swinging on a slider. This brought up former Reds teammate, Todd Frazier to the plate who grounded out to Russell for the second out of the game.

Chapman retired pinch-hitter Avisail Garcia on a called strike three to help his new club lock in their 60th win of the season. The Chicago Cubs are the first team in the league to hit 60 wins on the year.