NTERLEAGUE
CHICAGO -- Eloy Jimenez came up in a big spot and delivered. It was exactly how he pictured the moment when he became a professional ballplayer.
With one major twist.
Jimenez hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the ninth inning in his first game against his first major league organization, helping the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Tuesday night.
The 22-year-old Jimenez was a top prospect for the Cubs before he headlined a rare trade with the White Sox for veteran left-hander Jose Quintana in July 2017. The Jimenez deal will live on in sports bars all over Chicago for many years to come, and the rookie added another wrinkle with one big swing in his first game at Wrigley Field.
"It was a dream come true," he said. "I wanted to hit one at Wrigley, but now with the White Sox it feels really good."
James McCann (Arkansas Razorbacks) hit a leadoff single before Jimenez drove a 1-0 pitch from Pedro Strop (1-3) over the wall in left for his 12th home run. Considered one of baseball's top young sluggers, Jimenez has gone deep six times in his past nine games.
"We were hoping he could get a pitch he could handle and obviously he did," White Sox Manager Rick Renteria said. "It was a big blow."
Adding another layer to the accomplishment, Jimenez cracked his bat on the swing. He smiled as he proudly displayed the broken lumber after the victory.
"It was an amazing moment," he said.
Evan Marshall (3-0) got two outs for the victory and Alex Colome worked the ninth for his 15th save. Four White Sox relievers combined for four scoreless innings after Ivan Nova turned in one of his best starts of the season.
The slumping Cubs kicked off a 10-game homestand with their fourth loss in five games. Kyle Schwarber connected for his 16th home run and Cole Hamels pitched seven effective innings, but that was it for the North Siders.
"We just have to do a better job offensively," Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said.
Hamels became the 10th left-hander with 2,500 career strikeouts when he threw a called third strike past Nova for the first out of the third. The crowd of 41,192 responded with a big cheer when his accomplishment was displayed on the videoboard, and Hamels tipped his cap in appreciation.
Jimenez had a chance to get the White Sox off to a fast start when he batted with the bases loaded in the first. But Hamels got him to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
Schwarber then lined Nova's first pitch of the game into the bleachers in left for his fourth career leadoff homer. He also started Thursday's 7-3 loss to the Dodgers with a home run on Clayton Kershaw's first pitch.
The White Sox tied it in the sixth. Leury Garcia led off with a double and Tim Anderson followed with a hard grounder into the hole at shortstop. Javier Baez made a sliding stop, but he threw wild to first and Garcia hustled home on the error.
REDS 4, ASTROS 3 Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich homered off Justin Verlander in the first inning and host Cincinnati beat Houston to clinch its first series victory in nearly a month. The Reds won a series for the first time since May 24-26, when they took two of three from the Cubs. The Astros hadn't dropped a series since April 29-May 2. Winker connected on the fourth pitch from Verlander (9-3). Joey Votto doubled and Dietrich's first home run since May 28 made it 3-0.
TIGERS 5, PIRATES 4 Nicholas Castellanos trotted home when a potential double play in the eighth turned into an RBI fielder's choice due to some indecisiveness by Pittsburgh second baseman Adam Frazier. Visiting Detroit loaded the bases off Kyle Crick (2-3) with one out when Brandon Dixon hit a grounder that rolled under Crick's glove right to Frazier. Instead of flipping to shortstop Kevin Newman in hopes of turning an inning-ending double play, Frazier tried to tag Detroit's Christin Stewart between first and second. Stewart backed off to avoid the tag, breaking up the play and forcing for Frazier to settle for one out instead of two.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
METS 10, BRAVES 2 Jacob deGrom took a shutout into the ninth inning, Pete Alonso homered to highlight the first four-hit game of his young career, and visiting New York routed Atlanta. Bouncing back from an ugly 12-3 loss in the series opener, the Mets pounded Braves starter Julio Teheran for six runs over four innings. DeGrom (4-6) dominated, allowing five hits, struck out 10 and helped himself at the plate, leading off the sixth with a double and coming around to score. Teheran (5-5) lost for the first time since April 30.
MARLINS 6, CARDINALS 0 Rookie Jordan Yamamoto matched his first career start by pitching seven scoreless innings against St. Louis, and visiting Miami earned the shutout. Yamamoto (2-0) allowed 2 hits, struck out 7 and walked 2. He became the first pitcher since Pittsburgh's Nick Maddox in 1907 to beat the Cardinals twice in a seven-day span when the first game was his debut.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 10, RANGERS 3 Rookie Zach Plesac allowed only two hits pitching into the eighth inning and Cleveland had four home runs, including three in a row for the first time in nearly 15 years, to overwhelm host Texas. After Jake Bauers led off the Indians' seventh with a 389-foot shot to right-center, Roberto Perez and Tyler Naquin followed with home runs that measured more than 400 feet. Those long balls came in a span of five pitches off reliever Drew Smyly (Little Rock Central, Razorbacks). The last time Cleveland had hit back-to-back-to-back home runs was at Seattle on July 16, 2004.
YANKEES 6, RAYS 3 Cameron Maybin homered again with his roster spot in doubt, Edwin Encarnacion went deep for his first hit with the Yankees and host New York beat Tampa Bay to extend its AL East lead to 2 ½ games. New York won its fourth straight and has taken 9 of 12 against the second-place Rays dating to last season. Gary Sanchez had two RBIs and J.A. Happ (7-3) pitched two-run ball over five innings. Giancarlo Stanton was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his first big league action since March 31.
ANGELS 3, BLUE JAYS 1 Tyler Skaggs pitched into the eighth inning, Kole Calhoun and Brian Goodwin hit solo home runs and visiting Los Angeles remained unbeaten in five games against Toronto this season. Skaggs (6-6) went a season-best 7 1/3 innings. He allowed a run and three hits, walked none and struck out six. Luis Rengifo had two hits for the Angels, who have won 17 of 23 games in Toronto.
Tuesday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia at Washington, ppd.
NY Mets 10, Atlanta 2
Miami 6, St. Louis 0
Colorado 8, Arizona 1
Milwaukee at San Diego, (n)
San Francisco at LA Dodgers, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 6, Tampa Bay 3
LA Angels 3, Toronto 1
Cleveland 10, Texas 3
Oakland 16, Baltimore 2
Boston at Minnesota, (n)
Kansas City at Seattle, (n)
INTERLEAGUE
Detroit 5, Pittsburgh 4
Cincinnati 4, Houston 3
Chicago White Sox 3, Chicago Cubs 1
Sports on 06/19/2019