In a battle of two teams that have been struggling as of late, the Chicago Cubs came out on top as they clobbered five home runs in a 10-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
Kyle Schwarber, Willson Contreras and Javier Baez all hit home runs in the game, and Victor Caratini hit his first home run of the season in the victory for the Cubs.
Yu Darvish pitched seven scoreless innings in his final start of the regular season, ending the campaign with a 2.01 ERA as he allowed just three hits and struck out five batters in his second straight strong performance against the White Sox.
Dylan Cease, the pitcher the Cubs traded to the White Sox in the deal that landed Jose Quintana on the North Side, gave up five earned runs and struck out five batters in 4.2 innings as he took the loss for the South Siders.
The Cubs, who struggled badly to score runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates as they dropped three straight at PNC Park this week, got to work almost right away, as Schwarber flipped an opposite field home run over the left field fence to give his team an early 1-0 lead.
In the third inning it was Contreras doing the honors, hitting an opposite field home run of his own to score Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ. That blast, accompanied by an animated bat flip by Contreras, gave the Cubs a 4-0 advantage.
Baez and Caratini hit home runs in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively, to push the Cubs’ advantage even further as Darvish continued to shine, baffling White Sox hitters as the South Siders continued their struggles at the plate.
Chicago Baseball
Tempers flared in the seventh inning of the game when Jimmy Cordero hit Contreras with a pitch. The hurler was ejected from the game, and White Sox manager Rick Renteria and pitching coach Don Cooper were tossed as well following the incident.
The Cubs added another run in the eighth inning when Yasmani Grandal dropped the ball on a tag attempt at home plate, and Contreras hit his second home run of the evening in the ninth to help finish off the win in style for the Cubs.
The two teams will play again on Saturday night, with first pitch slated for 6:10 p.m. Jon Lester will be opposed by Dane Dunning in the contest.
