Chicago baseball report: Justin Steele’s streak intact despite sweep of Cubs — and a historically bad April for White Sox
A three-game sweep decided by three runs is not how the Chicago Cubs wanted to begin their seven-game trip.
Even more frustrating, four walks scored during their series in Miami, a number that loomed large to manager David Ross after Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Marlins.
“I don’t think we played bad baseball,” Ross said. “We didn’t get the big hit this series. They did. A couple things go our way here or there ...
“We can do some little things better. But, again, that’s just baseball. They played better than we did this series.”
The Cubs (14-13) went 4-for-25 with runners in scoring position and left 24 runners on base en route to getting swept for the first time this season.
The White Sox (8-21) appeared headed for another setback Sunday before pulling off a stunning ninth-inning rally for a 12-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Andrew Vaughn’s three-run homer capped a seven-run inning to snap a 10-game losing streak.
Every Monday throughout the season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead for the Cubs and Sox.
Justin Steele keeps rolling
The Marlins became the latest team kept in check by Justin Steele.
The Cubs lefty scattered seven hits in six innings Sunday, allowing three runs (two earned) with one walk and three strikeouts. Steele didn’t look as sharp as his first five starts, but he exited with the game tied.
“It was a tough game throughout, every single inning,” Steele said. “Made some good pitches. They did a good job of putting wood on it and finding ways to get on.”
Steele has surrendered two earned runs or fewer in 13 consecutive starts dating to July 22. It’s the longest stretch by a Cubs pitcher since Jake Arrieta’s 14 consecutive starts from July 30, 2015, to April 4, 2016.
Steele owns a 1.23 ERA in that span (10 earned runs in 73 innings) — the best in baseball among pitchers with at least 12 starts — with 24 walks and 79 strikeouts.
Sox make the wrong type of history in April
The Sox made the wrong type of history last week.
Their 7-21 record after Saturday’s disastrous 12-3 loss to the Rays at Guaranteed Rate Field tied the 1948 club for the worst 28-game start in franchise history.
“It’s been obviously a rough start that nobody expected,” hitting coach José Castro said Sunday morning. “The whole organization — from the very top to the very bottom (and) ex-players that do a lot for the White Sox — everybody is like, ‘OK, time to get going here.’ And that’s what we’re working for.
“We’re working to get these guys better, get them in a good frame of mind. I think they’re trying to do a little bit too much. But we won’t stop the work and the message and the whole deal.”
Saturday’s defeat guaranteed another series loss. The Sox are 0-8-1 in series this season.
The topic of “pressing” has come up often during the losing streak. Manager Pedro Grifol said Sunday morning that combating that is “hard because you’re not winning as a ballclub and some of the guys haven’t started off the way they wanted to start off.”
“Maybe that’s a part of human nature, that we press a little bit,” Grifol said. “The only thing I can say to that is just go play. Just go have some fun, play to win every day and it will turn.”
That came into view Sunday as the losing streak ended in dramatic fashion.
“It was the highest of highs to the lowest of lows back to the highest of highs,” pitcher Mike Clevinger said. “Definitely the most fun game of the season.”
Cubs rotation could see veterans return soon
Kyle Hendricks’ first rehab start at Triple-A Iowa was all about how he felt.
“Purposely for me, I wanted to not give him anything to focus on, just to go out and compete and see how he wanted to go about his business, get back in the flow,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said Sunday.
Hottovy talked with Hendricks on Friday, the day after his outing, about simplifying his approach and getting back to what makes him successful. Much of it comes down to pitch execution. The Cubs weren’t worried about Hendricks’ pitching line in his first start since July 5.
“No matter how long you pitch in this game, when you have eight, nine months off, it’s going to take you a bit to get back in the flow of that,” Hottovy said. “So the great part is he felt good, we thought a lot of the mechanical stuff looked really good. ... He’s like, ‘All right, now it’s time to go. It’s time to turn it up a notch.’”
Hendricks is scheduled to make his next start for Iowa on Tuesday. Ideally, the Cubs want him built up to 80-85 pitches before he rejoins the team.
But, Hottovy added, other factors could be involved in the timing of Hendricks’ return, including when the Cubs need a starter, the shape of the bullpen and days off. An important marker comes with getting to 80-plus pitches in a rehab start: fully testing how the shoulder and body recover the next day.
If Hendricks continues on this trend, he should be prepared to come off the injured list by mid-May.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon (left groin strain) felt good coming out of his bullpen session Saturday. Taillon is eligible to come off the 15-day IL on Tuesday, when he’s scheduled to throw his next bullpen. Hottovy hopes Taillon won’t need a rehab start before being activated.
“It’s still kind of early for me to tell,” Hottovy said. “(Tuesday) is going to be a higher-intense bullpen that we should have good feedback from that.”
Stat of the week
The Sox were outscored 70-25 during their 10-game skid.
Week ahead: Cubs
The Cubs are nearing the midpoint of playing 16 consecutive days and should take advantage of a struggling Washington Nationals team to get back on track to close out the seven-game trip. In another scheduling quirk, the Cubs again face the Marlins at Wrigley Field to wrap up their season series.
Drew Smyly, Hayden Wesneski and Marcus Stroman are the probable starters for the first three games in Washington. Thursday’s series finale is listed as TBD.
Monday: at Nationals, 6:05 p.m., Marquee
Tuesday: at Nationals, 6:05 p.m., Marquee
Wednesday: at Nationals, 6:05 p.m., Marquee
Thursday: at Nationals, 12:05 p.m., Marquee
Friday: vs. Marlins, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
Saturday: vs. Marlins, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
Sunday: vs. Marlins, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
Week ahead: White Sox
The Sox have been without Tim Anderson since he exited an April 10 game at Minnesota with a sprained left knee. The shortstop spent the weekend on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte and is expected to be back for Tuesday’s series opener against the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“He’s the heart and soul of the club,” Grifol said. “As he goes, we go. He’s the energy. It takes 26 guys to do what we want to do, but he’s a really big piece to this thing.”
His absence has been noticeable. The Sox are 3-15 since the All-Star went on the injured list April 11.
Since the start of the 2020 season, the Sox are 150-112 (.573) when Anderson is in the starting lineup and 67-84 (.444) when he is not.
Anderson was off to a strong start this season, hitting .298 with five doubles, four RBIs, five stolen bases, two walks and nine runs in 11 games. He was 2-for-10 with one run and one RBI through three games with the Knights.
Monday: off
Tuesday: vs. Twins, 6:10 p.m., NBCSCH
Wednesday: vs. Twins, 6:10 p.m., NBCSCH
Thursday: vs. Twins, 1:10 p.m., NBCSCH
Friday: at Reds, 5:40 p.m., Apple TV+
Saturday: at Reds, 5:40 p.m., NBCSCH
Sunday: at Reds, 3:10 p.m., NBCSCH
What we’re reading this morning
Column: ‘Sell the team’ chant could be on heavy rotation at White Sox games this summer
‘Baseball is a crazy game, man’: White Sox snap their 10-game skid with a 7-run, 9th-inning rally
Caleb Kilian looks for positives after getting roughed up in Cubs loss: ‘He’s not ready’
Column: 40 years later, the Lee Elia tapes are just as enjoyable as ever — thanks to the ‘Grobber’
This week in Chicago baseball
May 1, 1951: Minnie Miñoso becomes the White Sox’s first Black player
After spending 1950 in the Pacific Coast League, Miñoso returned to the majors with Cleveland before being dealt to the White Sox as part of a three-way deal on April 30. He homered in his first at-bat with the Sox on May 1, 1951, against Vic Raschi of the New York Yankees.
Miñoso hit .326 with 10 home runs, 76 RBIs and 112 runs in 146 games with Cleveland and the Sox, earned his first American League All-Star selection and placed fourth in AL MVP voting and second for AL Rookie of the Year. He ranked first in the AL in triples (14), stolen bases (31) and hit by pitches (16). He was second in average and runs and fourth in hits (173).
May 1, 1960: Comiskey Park’s exploding scoreboard debuts
Al Smith stepped up in the home half of the first inning of a doubleheader on May 1, 1960, and put the defending AL champs ahead with a two-run homer off Jim Bunning. Then the fun began.
Smith triggered the public debut of Bill Veeck’s biggest, baddest pinball machine — his exploding scoreboard. The tradition of saluting Sox home runs continues to this day.
The idea for one of baseball’s greatest spectacles came while Veeck was watching Jimmy Cagney in “The Time of Your Life.”
“This character in the film was always playing pinball machines,” Veeck told the Tribune in April 1960. “Toward the finish he finally hit the jackpot and there was the darndest racket and flashing of lights you ever heard or saw.”
May 1, 1901: White Sox’s Herm McFarland hits the first grand slam in AL history
Dummy Hoy also homered in the 19-9 rout of the Tigers, who committed an AL-record 12 errors, 10 by the infield.
May 2, 1917: Hippo Vaughn of the Cubs and Fred Toney of the Reds both pitch hitless ball for nine innings
The Reds won on two hits in the 10th at Weeghman Park, and Toney maintained his no-hitter. The game is no longer considered a no-hitter for Vaughn but remains the only game in MLB history in which a regulation nine innings were played without either team logging a hit.
May 2, 1992: Ryne Sandberg signs a 4-year extension with the Cubs
At the time it was the highest price tag in baseball, worth $7.1 million per season for the All-Star second baseman.
Sandberg was named to the All-Star Game 10 times and won nine Gold Glove awards and seven Silver Slugger awards in 15 seasons with the Cubs. He was the National League MVP in 1984 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. And soon he’ll be the fifth Cubs player to have a statue outside Wrigley Field.
May 4, 1980: White Sox’s Mike Squires catches the final inning of an 11-1 loss to the Brewers
The first baseman was the first left-handed catcher to play in major-league baseball since Dale Long in 1958.
May 6, 1998: Cubs’ Kerry Wood strikes out 20 batters
The Cubs right-hander allowed only one hit — an infield single to start the third. Otherwise he was in total control with his 122 pitches. From the first hitter — Craig Biggio, who went down swinging on a sizzling, high fastball — until the last.
It was a performance for the ages by a phenom with barely enough stubble to shave and a huge shot in the arm for a franchise in desperate need of a franchise player. With one nine-inning gem in only the fifth start of his budding career, Wood put himself in the record books alongside fellow Texan Roger Clemens.
“That’s the greatest thrill anyone could have, to be associated with Roger,” Wood said. “He’s a great pitcher and he has established himself. I’m still trying to settle in a little.”
Quotable
“The process is strong. The talent is there. It’s a matter of getting that to translate into results.” — Sox general manager Rick Hahn
