Welcome back Yaz! 8 RBIs ties Sox record

CHICAGO -- There was a time during a 17-13 White Sox four-hour victory over the Cubs on Friday night at an electric Guaranteed Rate Field when the American League Central leaders actually trailed.

By six runs. In the top of the first inning. That deficit did not last long.

• Box score

“You know, that’s the team concept, right?” said White Sox manager Tony La Russa of his team’s 29th come-from-behind victory this season and the largest comeback since erasing a seven-run deficit against Detroit on April 26, 2019. “Starting pitchers pick us up when we are having trouble scoring. Once in a while, our starter has a rough outing and the offense picks him up. It’s the definition of team.”

The White Sox took advantage of poor Cubs relief and an equally poor defense to score eight in the third and turn a 6-1 deficit into a 9-6 advantage. Yasmani Grandal, in his first game back off the injured list, tied the game with a three-run home run off Adrian Sampson, who threw 37 pitches in his one inning of relief for starter Keegan Thompson. Grandal doubled home two in the fifth and hit a three-run homer in the eighth to tie a career high with eight RBIs and tie the White Sox single-game franchise record.

Grandal needed a triple for the cycle in his last at-bat, but instead he became the fifth White Sox player to have eight RBIs in a game (sixth time) and first since Robin Ventura on Sept. 4, 1995, at Texas. The catcher also became the first Major League player to miss a month or more (surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left knee) and then have eight RBIs in his first game back (since RBIs became official in 1920), per STATS.

"This is pretty much just getting my stamina back, my feet underneath me on the catching side, when I'm running around,” Grandal said. “I felt pretty tired halfway through the game, after running around, blocking, moving behind the plate. But it just comes with the job. Thank God that I'm back and I have a month of games to be able to get my stamina up and be able to feel good by the time the playoffs come."

“Evidently he’s been doing a lot of work,” La Russa said. “His swing was on time. It was really impressive. You don’t do that automatically.”

Dallas Keuchel was touched up for the Cubs’ six runs and exited after Frank Schwindel’s leadoff single in the second and on a 0-1 count to Patrick Wisdom, who hit a three-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the ninth off Craig Kimbrel. It was Keuchel’s shortest outing of his career, covering one-plus innings with six runs (five earned) and seven hits allowed, as he has allowed 11 earned runs on 16 hits in his last six-plus innings over two starts.

Reynaldo López took over and was literally unhittable over five perfect innings, striking out seven. He is the first White Sox reliever to throw five-plus perfect innings in a game since Eddie Cicotte on June 23, 1917, vs. Cleveland, and just the second MLB pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1901) to throw five-plus perfect innings of relief with seven-plus strikeouts, along with Cleveland’s Jake Westbrook on April 19, 2004, vs. Detroit (7 IP/7 K's), per STATS.

Having López available for extended work allowed La Russa to make the quick move with Keuchel. López took over from there.

“Right after I got the first two outs, I told myself, ‘OK, let’s do it tonight.’” López said through interpreter Billy Russo. “I could feel the energy on the team and the confidence that we had. [Tim Anderson] was cheering us, and we were all very confident that we could come back and win the game. It was fun. The energy, the feeling that we have right now was really good.”

Friday’s win gave the White Sox four straight victories over the North Siders and returned the Crosstown Cup trophy to the South Side. It’s the White Sox first Crosstown series win since going 3-1 in 2014. It’s only just the beginning for this team now at full strength for the first time this season.

“It takes the full 40-man roster in order to get through a season,” Grandal said. “And I feel like we've done a really good job at that. Guys who have been coming up have been stepping up and helping us win.

“Now that we have everybody back, it's just a matter of getting accustomed to each other and accustomed to the lineup and the guys out on the field. And it's only going to get better from here on out."