The Cubs have an opportunity to finish the homestand strong and build some momentum after capturing an important series win.
They conclude their season series against the New York Mets this weekend at Wrigley Field, and it could feature the Cubs debut of veteran catcher Tomás Nido against his former team. The Cubs signed Nido on Wednesday, two days after the Mets released him. They parted ways with Yan Gomes, whom they designated for assignment as the corresponding move, as they attempt to upgrade their production at catcher.
The White Sox wrapped up a three-game homestand Thursday with a loss to the Houston Astros before going to Detroit for three games. They’ll return home Monday to face Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani thumped the Sox during his American League MVP season in 2023 with the Los Angeles Angels, hitting seven home runs in seven games. That included three home runs in three games at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Every Friday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox. Want more? Sign up for our new newsletters.
Cubs relievers being tested in high-leverage spots
The Cubs’ propensity for playing in close games inherently puts pressure on the bullpen.
They easily lead the majors with their 31 one-run games, posting a 14-17 mark. Sixteen blown saves haven’t helped the Cubs’ record (36-39) either.
Colten Brewer earned his first career save Wednesday in a 6-5 victory against the San Francisco Giants, a game the Cubs again almost blew thanks to Jorge Soler’s grand slam in the eighth and two walks from Brewer in the ninth. He stranded the runners at second and third, however, and became the sixth Cubs reliever to earn a save this season.
“This was just kind of need-based last couple days,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I mean, we have to just look at it — we’re going to need all the guys down there. I know that. We’ve just got to keep trying to put them in good spots. Colten did a heck of a job. I thought he thought his stuff was really good the whole day, maybe almost a little amped up.”
Mark Leiter Jr. and Hayden Wesneski’s recent inconsistencies have added to the challenge of closing out games. Leiter has surrendered six hits and eight runs in his last 3 1/3 innings while also walking four, hitting one batter and striking out five. The long ball keeps burning Wesneski, who has been tagged for one in four of his last five outings.
Despite his recent struggles, veteran Héctor Neris is still expected to be used in save situations coming off two blown saves in his last three appearances while allowing seven earned runs. As Counsell noted, his options in the late innings will depend on relievers’ availability. Clearly, though, the Cubs still believe in Neris and his importance to how Counsell maps out high-leverage spots.
“We’re going to have to get 27 outs every, day and the order of those outs is less important than just getting those outs,” Counsell said. “And so Héctor has been in that role, Héctor is going to need to continue to be in that role for me to manage the games to put the guys down there in the best positions to succeed.
“He’s had a couple of rough outings. I don’t think he pitched that poorly (Monday) night. … But yeah, I think we’re absolutely going to need to see Héctor at the end of games.”
Next wave of Sox pitchers making waves at Double A
The Birmingham Barons pitching staff has a “pass the torch” mentality.
“All of our staff, every single one of us, we’re not trying to one-up each other, it’s just we see someone go on Tuesday and it’s like, ‘All right, pass the torch to the next guy and try to put our team in a good position,’ ” starter Ky Bush said during a videoconference call Tuesday. “It’s been pretty fun.”
And pretty good. The Barons, the Double-A affiliate for the Sox, had the top ERA in all the minors entering Thursday at 2.82.
“Our starting pitching is without a doubt our strongest asset,” manager Sergio Santos said during a videoconference call Thursday. “They’ve allowed us to win a ballgame every single night. We could have run them out more, but we kind of have a cap of six innings or 80 pitches, so they could have gone deeper in games. They get in there and compete.”
Right-handers Mason Adams, Jairo Iriarte and Drew Thorpe (currently with the Sox) and left-handers Bush, Jake Eder, Noah Schultz and Tyler Schweitzer are a combined 23-15 with a 2.78 ERA, 395 strikeouts and a .213 opponents average in 66 games (64 starts).
Thorpe (first, 1.35), Bush (second, 1.78) and Adams (fifth, 2.34) rank among the Southern League leaders in ERA. Iriarte (third, 77), Eder (fourth, 75) and Adams and Bush (tied-sixth, 70) rank among the league leaders in strikeouts.
“Mason Adams has incredible stuff, knows how to pitch,” Santos said. “Ky Bush has had a great year, kind of dominant. Eder in that same boat, these power lefties that throw a lot of strikes and have really good stuff. Drew Thorpe moving up, he did a fantastic job for us. It’s been fun knowing they’re going to throw up five or six zeros.”
Number of the week: 1,500
During Kyle Hendricks’ stellar start Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants, the veteran right-hander surpassed 1,500 career innings to become the sixth pitcher since 1961 to reach that mark with the Cubs, joining Fergie Jenkins, Rick Reuschel, Greg Maddux, Carlos Zambrano and Bill Hands.
Tracking the White Sox’s road to 100 loses
Record: 20-56
The Sox, who have lost 26 of their last 32, are off to their worst 76-game start in franchise history. The previous mark of 25-51 was set in 1934 and tied in 2018.
The Sox are off to the the third-worst 76-game start in the wild-card era (since 1994), behind Oakland in 2023 (19-57) and Detroit in 2003 (18-58).
Week ahead: Cubs
- Friday: vs. Mets, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
- Saturday: vs. Mets, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
- Sunday: vs. Mets, 6:10 p.m., ESPN
- Monday: at Giants, 8:45 p.m., Marquee
- Tuesday: at Giants, 8:45 p.m., Marquee
- Wednesday: at Giants, 8:45 p.m., Marquee
- Thursday: at Giants, 2:45 p.m., Marquee
Keegan Thompson’s season hasn’t necessarily played out exactly as he envisioned.
The right-hander opened the year in Triple A but earned a call-up to a banged-up bullpen in mid-April. He didn’t allow a run the rest of the month for the Cubs, tossing 9 2/3 scoreless innings. But it has been up and down since then between Iowa and Chicago, with time on the injured list because of an illness adding to the challenge.
In two appearances since being recalled this week, Thompson put up zeros and earned his first save of the season Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants by striking out the side.
“Just going out there and trying to be aggressive in the strike zone,” Thompson said. “I’ve been having success this year so far against righties and I think that’s one of the reasons why I was in there in the ninth. We had three or four in a pocket right there, and so it just was a good matchup for me to go in.
“All of our guys in the bullpen are throwing in high-leverage situations. It just so happened that I was up tonight.”
Thompson’s lights-out performance wasn’t even the highlight of his night. Forty-five minutes after securing the win, he got a call that his wife, Tate, was going into labor and headed to the hospital for the birth of their first child, Cooper. Thompson announced the news of his arrival on Instagram on Wednesday morning.
Week ahead: White Sox
- Friday: at Tigers, 5:40 p.m., NBCSCH
- Saturday: at Tigers, 12:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Sunday: at Tigers, 12:40 p.m., NBCSCH
- Monday: vs. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Tuesday: vs. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Wednesday: vs. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Thursday: vs. Braves, 3:10 p.m., NBCSCH
Catcher Korey Lee sees pitcher Jonathan Cannon as a “man on a mission” since returning from Triple-A Charlotte.
Cannon has a 0.48 ERA in three games (two starts) since being recalled on June 7.
He had his best outing Tuesday, scattering seven hits (six singles) with one walk and four strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings in a 2-0 victory against the Houston Astros, earning the first win of his major-league career.
“He knows he belongs here,” Lee said after the game. “It’s one of the humps you have to get over when you are in this league. You are meant to be here for a reason.
“He’s 100% meant to be here. I have full confidence in him. He has full confidence in me. That’s all I can ask for as a pitcher.”
Cannon is scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale in Detroit.
What we’re reading this morning
- Chicago White Sox lose another game — and series. 4 takeaways after dropping 2 of 3 to the Houston Astros.
- Column: It’s starting to look like 2013, the last time the Cubs and White Sox both finished last in their divisions
- Kyle Hendricks maintains perspective as the Cubs right-hander takes on the ‘most adversity’ of his career
- White Sox are ‘peppered regularly’ from other teams ahead of the MLB trade deadline
- As Cubs remain stuck under .500, eerily concerning offensive similarities to 2023 squad emerge
- Cubs designate veteran catcher Yan Gomes for assignment and sign catcher Tomás Nido
- Column: Baseball icon Willie Mays saluted at Wrigley Field on a memorable night
- Cubs OF Mike Tauchman lands on IL with a groin strain and will miss ‘significant’ time
- Column: Can the Cubs make the summer winds of Wrigley Field their fickle friend?
- What’s behind the White Sox’s power surge in June?
This week in Chicago baseball history
June 23, 1895: A Chicago Colts game against Cleveland was interrupted after the third inning so the entire team could be arrested for violating laws banning baseball.
While a West Side Grounds crowd of 10,000 fans waited, the players were marched into the clubhouse, where they signed $100 bail bonds. They then returned to the field to finish a 13-4 victory.
June 23, 1984: The ‘Sandberg game’ at Wrigley Field.
The legend of Ryne Sandberg was sealed when the Cubs second baseman cranked two game-tying home runs off Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter in a nationally televised game.
Sandberg went 5-for-6, tying the game off Sutter with home runs in the ninth and 11th innings, the second of which prompted NBC broadcaster Bob Costas to declare, “Can you believe it?” Cardinals manager Whiter Herzog referred to Sandberg afterward as “Baby Ruth.”
Sandberg went on to win the National League MVP award and lead the Cubs to the postseason for the first time in 39 years.
On Sunday, he will become the fifth Cubs player to have a statue unveiled outside Wrigley, joining Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins. The tributes to the Cubs icons are now part of the redesigned “Statue Row” in Gallagher Way.
Sandberg was named to the All-Star Game 10 times, won nine Gold Glove awards and seven Silver Slugger awards in 15 seasons with the Cubs. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Quotable
“We’ve got to win games. You try to stack up wins and we’ve got to keep doing that. We haven’t been doing a good job of that.” — Cubs manager Craig Counsell on Wednesday after they won their first series of at least three games since May 10-12.
