Dylan Cease described the recent offensive outburst by the Chicago White Sox as “nothing short of spectacular.”
That was certainly the case in Sunday’s City Series finale against the Chicago Cubs.
The Sox walloped five home runs — including two by Luis Robert — and crushed the Cubs 13-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 38,565 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Brian Goodwin, Eloy Jiménez and Yasmani Grandal also homered as the Sox took two of three in Round 2 of the City Series and won five of the six meetings between the teams this season.
The Sox have scored at least 10 runs in three of their last four games.
“Everybody on this team knows that we can do what we did today,” Robert said through an interpreter. “We tried to do it (in Saturday’s 7-0 loss) too, but that’s something that you can’t do every day. But that’s our goal and our mindset, just go out there and do our best and do what we did today.”
Jiménez and Grandal homered during a seven-run fifth inning. The Sox had 11 two-out RBIs.
“That’s the first thing that caught my attention,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “I mean, we got seven in one inning. But that is one of the healthiest stats in baseball.”
The Sox hit at least five home runs for the fourth time this season.
Three of the homers Sunday came against Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (14-6), who allowed eight runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks in 4? innings.
“It looks like he lost command: two walks and a hit by pitch is really uncharacteristic of him,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Just looked like he lost his feel of the baseball and the strike zone.”
Cease (11-6) pitched six sharp innings, allowing one run on four hits with 11 strikeouts — matching a career high — and two walks.
“Today’s (pregame bullpen session) was kind of an average ‘pen,” Cease said. “But I was able to go out there and kind of elevate to another level.
“To be able to go six-plus the last two is definitely something I’m striving for, and I think I can even take it to another level with my efficiency. That’s something that definitely means a lot to me.”
It was the eighth double-digit strikeout game of Cease’s career.
“He set the tempo as far as getting outs, and our hitters were dangerous,” La Russa said.
The Cubs jumped out to large leads in the first two games of the series. The Sox struck first Sunday with a solo home run by Robert in the first.
The Sox put together a two-run rally in the second. Andrew Vaughn singled and Goodwin followed with a two-run homer to left, his eighth of the season.
Frank Schwindel homered leading off the fourth for the Cubs.
Alfonso Rivas, who had two hits in his major-league debut, doubled leading off the fifth. That gave the Cubs three cracks with the tying run at the plate. Cease struck out Sergio Alcántara, Rafael Ortega and Schwindel.
“Really it’s just trusting myself, trusting my process and my stuff and just knowing that if I fill up the zone, more than likely something good will happen,” Cease said.
The Sox broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth. José Abreu drove in two with a two-out double. He has 101 RBIs this season, the sixth time he has reached 100 in seven full major-league seasons.
“He does so many things that make him a good RBI guy — handles pitcher’s pitches, uses the whole field,” La Russa said. “The most important thing, you know what it is? He knows what the score is and he’s trying to help his team win. And that’s the purest motivation there is and that’s the best. Because that never changes.”
Jiménez followed with a three-run homer. Grandal hit a two-run homer against reliever Adam Morgan.
“With Grandal back, the team is finally running on all cylinders,” Robert said. “The team’s complete. He was the piece that we were missing when he was on the IL. Everybody’s healthy now, and that’s a plus for us. And we’ve shown what we can do when the team is complete.”
Robert added a two-run homer in the sixth against Scott Effross, who was making his major-league debut.
“I haven’t tried to overswing or do anything, just see the ball, hit the ball,” Robert said.
Even on a day when shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Yoán Moncada rested, the Sox showed how quickly their offense can produce big numbers.
“That’s something that we all know that we can do,” Robert said, “and that’s the quality of this team.”
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