Chicago Sports

CHICAGO — Josh Naylor hit a tying grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning and a three-run homer in the 11th, powering a huge comeback that carried the Cleveland Guardians past the Chicago White Sox 12-9 on Monday night.

Naylor also had a run-scoring double in the eighth and finished with eight RBIs for the Guardians, who stunned Chicago by rallying from an 8-2 deficit in the ninth aided by two White Sox errors.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Naylor became the first player since the stat became official in 1920 to have 8 RBIs from the eighth inning on in a game. He also became the first player in major league history with multiple three-run home runs (or a grand slam) from the ninth inning on in a game.

“Nothing surprises me what he can do with the bat,” teammate Franmil Reyes said. “That was amazing. A legendary moment.”

Andres Gimenez led off the ninth inning with a homer and then doubled home a run in the 10th as the Guardians snapped Chicago’s six-game winning streak. They have won eight of 10 following a seven-game skid.

It was the first multi-homer game for Naylor, back from a horrific leg injury last season. He is 10 for 17 with runners in scoring position this year.

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Naylor launched his first career slam off Liam Hendriks, handing the All-Star closer his first blown save since April 8.

Naylor’s go-ahead drive came off Ryan Burr and barely cleared the right-field fence. Burr (0-1) started the 11th in place of Reynaldo Lopez, who felt lower back tightness while warming up and left the game.

“It stings,” Hendriks said. “It should have been something I should have taken care of. We were one strike away and I couldn’t get it done. That’s what stings the most.”

Burr was equally remorseful.

“It sucks,” he said. “Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug. I was the bug today. I got squashed. It sucks to let this team down.”

Emmanuel Clase (1-2) allowed a run in the 10th but earned the win. Trevor Stephan pitched a perfect 11th for his second major league save and first this season.

White Sox starter Michael Kopech allowed two hits through six innings and Chicago got three-run homers from Gavin Sheets and AJ Pollock to build a big lead. But four errors, which tied a season high set April 20 in the first game of a doubleheader, haunted the White Sox.

Sheets dropped a line drive to right field with two outs in the first that allowed the Guardians’ first run to score. Chicago shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Yoan Moncada committed costly errors in the ninth.

The White Sox loaded the bases on three walks in the bottom of the ninth, but third baseman Jose Ramirez made a diving stop and Naylor stretched far at first base to field the throw for the final out of the inning.

Kopech lowered his ERA to 0.93, and his six innings tied a career high set Aug. 26, 2018, at Detroit.

The game marked the return of Moncada and the White Sox debut of reliever Joe Kelly. Moncada hadn’t played this season because of a right oblique strain. Kelly, who was out due to a right biceps nerve injury, pitched a scoreless seventh.

Information from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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CHICAGO — Josh Naylor hit a tying grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning and a three-run homer in the 11th, powering a huge comeback that carried the Cleveland Guardians past the Chicago White Sox 12-9 on Monday night.

Naylor also had a run-scoring double in the eighth and finished with eight RBIs for the Guardians, who stunned Chicago by rallying from an 8-2 deficit in the ninth aided by two White Sox errors.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Naylor became the first player since the stat became official in 1920 to have 8 RBIs from the eighth inning on in a game. He also became the first player in major league history with multiple three-run home runs (or a grand slam) from the ninth inning on in a game.

“Nothing surprises me what he can do with the bat,” teammate Franmil Reyes said. “That was amazing. A legendary moment.”

Andres Gimenez led off the ninth inning with a homer and then doubled home a run in the 10th as the Guardians snapped Chicago’s six-game winning streak. They have won eight of 10 following a seven-game skid.

It was the first multi-homer game for Naylor, back from a horrific leg injury last season. He is 10 for 17 with runners in scoring position this year.

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Naylor launched his first career slam off Liam Hendriks, handing the All-Star closer his first blown save since April 8.

Naylor’s go-ahead drive came off Ryan Burr and barely cleared the right-field fence. Burr (0-1) started the 11th in place of Reynaldo Lopez, who felt lower back tightness while warming up and left the game.

“It stings,” Hendriks said. “It should have been something I should have taken care of. We were one strike away and I couldn’t get it done. That’s what stings the most.”

Burr was equally remorseful.

“It sucks,” he said. “Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug. I was the bug today. I got squashed. It sucks to let this team down.”

Emmanuel Clase (1-2) allowed a run in the 10th but earned the win. Trevor Stephan pitched a perfect 11th for his second major league save and first this season.

White Sox starter Michael Kopech allowed two hits through six innings and Chicago got three-run homers from Gavin Sheets and AJ Pollock to build a big lead. But four errors, which tied a season high set April 20 in the first game of a doubleheader, haunted the White Sox.

Sheets dropped a line drive to right field with two outs in the first that allowed the Guardians’ first run to score. Chicago shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Yoan Moncada committed costly errors in the ninth.

The White Sox loaded the bases on three walks in the bottom of the ninth, but third baseman Jose Ramirez made a diving stop and Naylor stretched far at first base to field the throw for the final out of the inning.

Kopech lowered his ERA to 0.93, and his six innings tied a career high set Aug. 26, 2018, at Detroit.

The game marked the return of Moncada and the White Sox debut of reliever Joe Kelly. Moncada hadn’t played this season because of a right oblique strain. Kelly, who was out due to a right biceps nerve injury, pitched a scoreless seventh.

Information from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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This one was in the bag.

And then it was out of the bag.

The Guardians scored six runs in the ninth inning Monday, capped by Josh Naylor’s grand slam against closer Liam Hendriks, to erase the White Sox’ lead, then got a three-run home run by Naylor against Ryan Burr in the 11th to earn a stunning 12-9 victory.

The result ended the Sox’ six-game winning streak.

It was a colossal collapse, complete with bad Sox defense and big hits by the Guardians, including homers by Andres Gimenez and Naylor in the ninth and a go-ahead RBI double by Gimenez in the 10th, the latter against Reynaldo Lopez.

Reese McGuire’s fielder’s choice brought Adam Engel home in the 10th to tie the score 9-9, but Jose Abreu hit into a force with the bases loaded and two outs.

Hendriks was summoned after rookie left-hander Tanner Banks couldn’t get out of the ninth. Banks allowed a homer to Gimenez leading off the inning, then yielded a single to Amed Rosario, who advanced to third when shortstop Tim Anderson couldn’t corral left fielder AJ Pollock’s throw into the infield. A fielding error by third baseman Yoan Moncada enabled Rosario to score and pulled the Guardians to 8-4.

Two outs later, Banks walked Jose Ramirez. That’s when manager Tony La Russa went to Hendriks, who served up a single to Owen Miller to load the bases before Naylor connected on his grand slam to tie the score and stun most of the 17,168 fans in attendance.

Pollock’s three-run homer in the eighth against Anthony Gose seemingly had put the game out of reach, giving the Sox an 8-2 lead.

Engel had a chance to win the game for the Sox in the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs, but Ramirez made a backhand stop behind third base and Naylor a good stretch at first to get Engel on a close play.

Long forgotten was Michael Kopech’s six strong innings and right fielder Gavin Sheets’ dropped fly ball in the first that allowed the Guardians’ first run. Sheets redeemed himself with a three-run homer against Zach Plesac in the bottom of the inning that put the Sox in front 4-1.

Sheets, who was 4-for-32 in his previous 10 games, was jubilant as he circled the bases and met his teammates in the dugout. The inning — and game — was a microcosm of the streaking Sox’ season that general manager Rick Hahn talked about before the game.

Because of injuries, Hahn had said on Opening Day that the first two months would be rocky. Turns out April — the first losing month since La Russa took over as manager before last season — was outright wonky, with eight victories and 12 losses. That was followed by a loss May 1.

”I didn’t quite foresee losing eight in a row followed by winning six in a row,” Hahn said. ”But it’s not a total shock that we quite haven’t found our sea legs or that this team hasn’t quite found its identity.”

Kopech is establishing an identity as a dominant front-line starter, however. He took a no-hitter into the fifth and allowed only an unearned run in six innings to lower his ERA to a glossy 0.93. Kopech struck out seven and walked two in the latest display of strong pitching by Sox starters, who had a 2.30 ERA in their previous 13 games.

”What the starters have done the last time through has helped carry us,” Hahn said. ”The bullpen has been fantastic. You’ve seen contributions from guys who are getting their first taste of high-leverage situations and responding well to it.

”And with the addition of Moncada [who made his season debut], hopefully the offense is able to start producing on a little more regular basis to give a little more margin of error.”

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SAN DIEGO – Right-hander Kyle Hendricks threw the best game of any Cubs pitcher this season in a 6-0 win against the Padres at Petco Park on Monday.

Hendricks came one out shy of a complete game, tossing 8 2/3 shutout innings.

The right-hander is coming out of an inconsistent April in which he was plagued on and off by the same mechanical issues that characterized his 2021 season, the worst of his career. But on Monday not only did he finally string together back-to-back strong starts, but he did so with a dominant performance.

The win snapped the Cubs’ five-game losing streak. Beyond the skid, the Cubs had lost eight of their past nine games, outscored by opponents 62-22 in that span.

Against the Dodgers this past weekend, the Cubs demonstrated how far they were from competing with MLB’s top teams. But their win on Monday provided a blueprint for the Cubs against championship-caliber teams, even if they can’t count on 8 2/3 innings from the starter every time out.

The offense didn’t do anything flashy, but they strung together hits to build up a lead bit by bit. The Cubs scored on a double from Seiya Suzuki in the first inning, a single from Ian Happ in the fourth, a double-play groundout from Suzuki in the fifth, and an error in the seventh.

They tacked on two more runs in the eight inning, showing off some aggressive base running. With runners on first and third, Happ stretched a base hit into an RBI double, sliding into second base head first. Nico Hoerner took advantage of the commotion at second to score the second run of the frame and give the Cubs a six-run lead.

The Cubs’ defense was solid, highlighted by a diving play center fielder Jason Heyward made sprinting in on a short line drive to end the seventh inning.

The win, however, started with Hendricks.

Hendricks allowed just three hits and one walk. He was the first Cubs starter to reach the eighth inning, and he just kept going.

Suzuki exits early

Suzuki left the game with right ankle soreness, the team announced. Rafael Ortega replaced him in right field in the sixth inning. Suzuki went 1-for-3 Monday.

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SAN DIEGO – Cubs left-hander Wade Miley is scheduled to return from the injured list to start Tuesday, manager David Ross announced before the series opener against the Padres.

He’ll be making his Cubs debut after starting the season on the 10-day IL with left elbow inflammation. The Cubs claimed Miley off waivers from the Reds in November and picked up his 2022 option.

“A little bit of stability,” Ross said of what it meant to get Miley back from the IL. “We’ve had to throw some bullpen days out there just because of some adversity we’ve hit early on. And just another veteran presence you can get out there and trust to go out there and do his thing. Gives really good feedback already in his bullpens and his outings, and just somebody to communicate with and trust in what you see because he’s been doing it for a long time.”

Miley made one rehab start in Triple-A before the Cubs penciled him into the big-league rotation. He tossed four scoreless innings for the Iowa Cubs. Ross declined to specify a pitch limit for Miley’s start Tuesday.

“We need him to just be himself, and we’ll monitor that on what we feel like is best for us to win the game and also keep him healthy,” he said.

The Cubs need the rotation help. Right-hander Marcus Stroman went on the IL without an injury designation on Sunday, which often means a COVID-19 related list move. Lefty Justin Steele started in his place and left the game after four innings with a left thumb injury.

Steele said Monday, after playing catch, that he doesn’t expect to miss a start.

“It felt fine throwing sliders and stuff,” Steele said.

That was the pitch that bugged him late in his start Sunday. The lower knuckle in his thumb was still a little swollen on Monday.

Even with Steele expecting a quick bounce back, the Cubs bullpen has been taxed recently. The Cubs have had two bullpen games in the past week, with lefty Daniel Norris opening against the Dodgers in the second game of a double header Saturday and side-armer Scott Effross opening against the White Sox last Tuesday.

Even the Cubs’ more traditional starters haven’t consistently been pitching deep into games. The Cubs entered play Monday with just one win in their past nine games. In that time, Cubs starters threw five or more innings just twice: Stroman threw seven scoreless innings in that 2-0 victory at Milwaukee, and Kyle Hendricks tossed 5 2/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to the White Sox.

On Monday, the Cubs still had not named a starter for Wednesday, the last game of a three-game series with the Padres.

Roster moves

The Cubs also placed reliever David Robertson on the IL without a designation on Monday. That opened a 40-man roster spot, which suggests an COVID-19 related list move.

The team rounded out their roster with three more moves: recalling first baseman Frank Schwindel from Triple-A the day after they’d optioned him, optioning right-hander Adrian Sampson to Triple-A and selecting lefty Conner Menez from Triple-A.

The Cubs also brought a three-man taxi squad to San Diego for extra protection, including right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., infielder Ildemaro Vargas and catcher PJ Higgins.

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A man pleaded guilty Sunday to burning down a Southwest Side Walgreens amid rioting and looting in 2020.

Jose Valdovinos pleaded guilty to arson, admitting to “maliciously” setting fire to the building in the 4000 block of West 59th Street on June 1, 2020, according to an indictment.

He faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

Feds say Valdovinos entered the store and set a fire in a white bucket in the pharmacy section. The blaze grew and engulfed a large portion of the building.

At the time, a Walgreens spokeswoman said the store had been gutted and would have to be completely rebuilt.

The pharmacy chain said it planned to spend $35 million to reopen Chicago stores hit by looting and vandalism after 70 of its 118 city locations sustained damage amid unrest that year.

The ATF and Chicago police released video after the incident of men caught on video inside the 59th Street store, hoping members of the public would help track them down. Valdovinos was identified as one of the men in the video by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Contributing: Jon Seidel

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Chicago police asked for the public’s help Monday after a weekend shooting killed two people and wounded a third in West Pullman.

The shooting occurred around 2:45 p.m. Saturday when a car pulled up in the 11600 block of South Lowe Avenue and someone opened fire at two men on a porch, Chicago police said.

A third man who was cutting a back lawn went to the front after hearing the gunfire and was shot too, according to Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan.

One of the men on the porch, Brandon Slater, 26, was struck multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The other man on the porch, 27, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition, police said.

The man who was cutting grass, Larry Purnell, 64, was shot in the chest and taken to the same hospital where he was later pronounced dead, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Purnell was not an intended target, Deenihan said.

No one was in custody and Deenihan indicated there is no video of the shooting.

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The Chicago White Sox are currently on a 6 game winning streak and have improved to 14-13 here with a hot start in May. The pitching staff continues to carry this team to close victories as they wait for the offense to heat up.

While the starters have been very good, the team’s bullpen has been stellar during the stretch.  Liam Hendriks is doing what he was paid to do, save games.  But the real surprise, is the re-emergence of third year reliever Matt Foster.

After a great rookie season in 2020, where Foster posted a stellar ERA of 2.20 with 6 wins and 31 strikeouts, Foster struggled immensely in his second year with the White Sox.

Sophomore Slump in 2021

Foster posted an ERA over 6 last season, giving up 9 homers in 39 innings pitched.  He often found himself pitching in games that were blowouts and hardly ever in situations of high leverage.  In 2021, Foster also had trouble staying healthy throughout the 162 game season.

Manager Tony La Russa could not trust him to pitch effectively in high leverage situations.  In fact, Foster did not even make the post season roster last year for the White Sox.

A New and Improved Foster

So far this season, Foster has not only improved from his horrible 2021 season, but he has outperformed his 2020 season as well.  The stats Foster is posting thus far is hardly sustainable long term, but he certainly has earned the trust of La Russa.

Here are Matt Foster’s numbers in the 12 appearances he has made this season: A 0.71 ERA, with 10 strike outs, with only 1 run and 7 hits surrendered.  The numbers are simply out of this world.  Foster has commanded his fastball with ease and has mixed it up with his slider very well.  His fastball has reached up to 97 MPH.  The 3rd year reliever is pitching with extreme confidence in the toughest of situations.

There are 4 key appearances that Foster has made in the past week to solidify his spot to pitch late in games.

May 3rd against the Chicago Cubs

in the first game of the crosstown series against the Chicago Cubs, Foster came into the game in the bottom of the 8th inning with the White Sox up 3 to 1.  He recorded a hold, striking out 1 and handing the game over to Hendriks for the save.  This was a clear sign for La Russa to keep putting Foster in high leverage situations.  The very next game, the White Sox skipper did just that.

May 4th against the Chicago Cubs

The following night was a much more stressful situation that Foster came into pitch.  Foster came into the game during the 8th inning once again after teammate Aaron Bummer was pulled by La Russa.  The Cubs had runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out.  After recording the 2nd out, Foster got the final out on a 3-2 pitch, striking out Ian Happ with a fastball looking.  Once again, he handed the game over to Hendriks in the 9th to close it out.

May 6th against the Boston Red Sox

In this appearance, Foster pitched the 6th inning this time around.  The result was the same, another hold.  In this outing Foster walked a batter and recorded 0 strikeouts.  Nevertheless, he gave up soft contact and gave up 0 hits in his inning of work.  Being able to come in and execute your pitches no matter if it is the 6th inning or the 8th inning, shows how reliable Foster has been in 2022.

May 7th against the Boston Red Sox

To cap off an amazing week of pitching performances, Foster saved his best for last.  Once again, Foster entered the game in the 8th inning with the White Sox holding on to a slim one run lead.  The heart of the order was due to bat for the Red Sox.  The result was spectacular as Foster struck out the side to end the 8th. He struck out Trevor Story on a biting slider, Rafael Devers on a high fastball at 96 MPH, and Xander Bogaerts on another slider.

The week Foster had pitching is simply remarkable.  It solidifies a bullpen that is already one of the best in baseball.  With reliever Joe Kelly set to join the team May 9th when they kick off a 3 game series at home versus the Cleveland Guardians, it becomes interesting to see how La Russa will continue to use Foster moving forward.

Make sure to check out our WHITE SOX forum for the latest on the team.

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SAN DIEGO — The day after the Cubs announced they were optioning Frank Schwindel to Triple-A, the first baseman was set to rejoin the team in San Diego, a source confirmed to the Sun-Times on Monday morning.

The corresponding move to make room for Schwindel on the active roster was not immediately clear.

“This is a league [where] you’ve got to produce, and he’s working on some things,” manager David Rosssaid when the Cubs optioned Schwindel Sunday. “We’re just going to take a little bit of the bright lights off and let him work through some things.

“Hopefully it’s not very long, and he gets back and finds his rhythm and is able to come back and help us out real soon.”

Real soon, indeed

Schwindel, a fan favorite late last season when he hit .342 for the Cubs, has put together a slow start to this season at the plate, batting .209 in 91 at-bats.

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