Well, that was more like it.
After two days of routine baseball in the first round of the City Series, a little bit of raw emotion was on display Sunday at the end of the Chicago Cubs’ 6-2 win over the White Sox at Wrigley Field.
With some of the crowd of 40,152 having already departed on a cool but sun-splashed afternoon, Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas became irate after being hit by a Brad Keller pitch in the eighth inning, and had a few words for the Cubs reliever after the inning ended.
Keller said he wasn’t sure why Vargas was upset, and simply laughed as Vargas grew more heated.
“Just because I didn’t understand it,” Keller said. “It’s a four-run game. We’ve got some guys down in the bullpen, so I’m just trying to get through my inning. Not trying to do anything different, or something that’s going to jeopardize me getting out of that game, or get tossed.”
Vargas told reporters, “I don’t have to explain the whole scenario. You guys know what happened.”
The Cubs’ dugout barked at Vargas more than the low-key Keller, mostly for acting as though he deemed himself important enough to be intentionally hit in a four-run game. Vargas hit his third home run of the series in the fourth inning off starter Colin Rea and has emerged as the Sox’s best hitter over the last month, hitting .350 with six home runs and 15 RBI since April 23.
“I guess you face the price for doing good at the plate,” Vargas said. “It is what it is. I just try to go out there and compete.”
Pete Crow-Armstrong, who led off with a first-inning triple and finished 2-for-4 with two runs, showed he’s a six-tool player. In addition to the usual five tools, Crow-Armstrong can also play peacemaker. He went up to Vargas during the incident and tried to calm him down.
“If I needed to,” Crow-Armstrong said of the role. “I don’t really think I did anything. Brad has been fricking nails all year.”
The Vargas-Keller incident registered only a 3 out of 10 on the unofficial Pierzynski-Barrett scale of Cubs-Sox brouhahas. The Pierzynski-Barrett scale is based on the 2006 brawl ignited by Michael Barrett’s punch of A.J. Pierzynski at U.S. Cellular Field.
According to A.J.-ologists, it wouldn’t even crack the Top 10 in all-time Cubs-Sox skirmishes. But beggars can’t be choosers, so Vargas-Keller will be something to watch in round two of the City Series in late July at Sox Park.
Either way, the Cubs won their record eighth-straight game in the series dating back to Aug. 16, 2023. That was the game in which Christopher Morel hit a three-run, walk-off home run off Gregory Santos in a 4-3 victory at Wrigley Field. Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn are the only players on the Sox’s current 26-man roster to have played in that game, and both are hitting under .200.
After Sunday’s game, Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed they were in conversations about recalling third baseman Matt Shaw, who is expected to join the team in Miami. Shaw hit four home runs in two games at Triple-A Iowa on Thursday and Friday, and could end the revolving door at third base. Nicky Lopez was expected to be the odd man out.
Sunday’s game had all the ingredients of a patented Sox City Series loss, including a poor decision by Sox third base coach Justin Jirschele in the first inning that got Chase Meidroth nailed at the plate by Seiya Suzuki. The fateful sixth inning turned on a throw to second by right fielder Michael A. Taylor that allowed Vidal Bruján to score the go-ahead run on a bang-bang play at the plate after he originally stopped at third on Crow-Armstrong’s double. And of course, there was another dropped fly ball by a Sox outfielder — Brooks Baldwin, this time — that added to the Cubs’ lead.
You see guys who have been in this league for a long time struggling with these elements and this is a tough place to play even without the wind and sun,” said Sox manager Will Venable. “It’s just one of those things, as these guys get more experienced, they’ll be more comfortable, but it’s tough for everybody.”
The three-game series was the Sox’s worst defensive performance of the season and left them with a 14-33 record as they begin a homestand Monday. They wasted a strong outing by Jonathan Cannon, who engaged with Rea in a pitching duel into the sixth. Rea allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings, improving to 4-0 with another no-flash performance that did the trick.
Crow-Armstrong had a big series against the Sox and seems to enjoy being a villain in the eyes of Sox fans for his chest-thumping, arm-waving celebrations.
“I’ve played the game the same way my whole life, and that’s what a lot of people love,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I think some people may perceive that as cockiness. I am very confident in myself, I believe, but that’s just what it is.”
Crow-Armstrong is already beloved by Cubs fans. Annoying Sox fans will just add to his legend.
The notion that Sox fans take the City Series more seriously than their North Side counterparts has always existed, true or not. The Sox no doubt want their fans to feel good, so beating the Cubs is more important to them than beating the Sox is to the Cubs.
“Fans certainly come alive for a series like this,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said Friday. “And you want to show well. It’s a team that is a rival of ours. So, being both a player and now a front office member, there’s no reason to stop. We want to beat these guys. We want to be better than the Cubs. This is an opportunity this year to take them on.”
Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins, on the other hand, shrugged on Saturday when asked how the Cubs view the City Series.
“I’m sure Counsell said it counts as one (game) and yes, it counts as one,” Hawkins said. “It doesn’t mean we don’t put extreme effort into each of those ones. We do that in every game because they all are going to matter. We’ve seen the last two years how much just one game can change the course of the season … We’re trying to figure out how to win the most over 162 (games). That’s our focus.”
With the end of the City Series, all Chicago sports fans could finally take a deep breath and turn to what really matters — Caleb Williams’ appearance this week at the Chicago Bears OTAs.
