"Eloy" or "Eeloy??" It's up to you how you want to pronounce it but Mr. Jimenez did damage in his Wrigley Field debut with a 2 run HR in the top of 9 to break a 1-1 tie & give the White Sox a 3-1 win over the Cubs in game 1 of the Crosstown Series. He was signed by the Cubs in July of 2013 and traded to the White Sox in July of 2017 (along with Dylan Cease, Matt Rose & Bryant Flete) for pitcher Jose Quintana in which some are saying could be the worst trade in Cubs history if Jimenez continues to flourish as projected.
Eloy Jimenez' 2 run HR proved to be the difference (John Alexander/The BIGS Photos)
The Cubs bats have been quiet lately and tonight they only managed 1 run on a leadoff bomb by #BamBam Kyle Schwarber in the bottom of 1. "We've gotta score more than one run and that's the tale of the tape. We hit a few balls square but just not enough," said manager Joe Maddon. Kris Bryant said there's no concern on their part with the lack of offense as of late. "It happens. I'm petty sure we'll get out of it. The talent that we have here is pretty good. We've done it plenty of times throughout the season so far. Gotta give credit to them. They hit the big hit when they needed to. I know there's a lot more of that this season for us but they just got us today."
#BigFolks Anthony Rizzo & #ELMago Javier Baez were a combined 0 for 7 each leaving 3 runners stranded. An errant throw by Baez in the top of 6 on a Tim Anderson infield hit led to the Sox tying the game at 1.
#ColeWORLD Cole Hamels entered the game with a 17 inning scoreless streak and his quality outing was wasted. He went 7 innings giving up 6 hits & 1 run while walking 2 & striking out 8. He picked up career strikeout #2500 in the top of 2...the 38th pitcher in the history of the game to do so and the 10th lefty to reach the feat. (#TheRyanExpress Nolan Ryan tops the list with 5,714 K's) The 41,149 fans in attendance showed him love and gave him his moment. "It's a special moment to be able to do it...especially here. The Wrigley faithful and Cubs fans know baseball. And even White Sox fans they know and understand baseball. They get it. I'm fortunate to be in this position and obviously wanna keep continuing and doing it as long as I can."
Final - Sox 3 Cubs 1
Summary - The Sox had a chance to get on the board first with the bases loaded and 1 out in the top of 1 but an Eloy Jimenez 5-4-3 double play ended the threat. Kyle Schwarber led off the bottom of 1 with a first pitch line drive into the left centerfield bleachers to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead. The Sox tied the game at 1 in the top of 6 as centerfielder Leury Garcia scored on a Tim Anderson single/E6 on Javier Baez. The Sox broke the tie in the top of 9 as Jimenez hit a 2 run broken bat HR off of Pedro Strop gave them a 3-1 lead and that was all she wrote.
Player(s) of the game - Cole Hamels notching strikeout #2500 of his career
Play of the game - Eloy Jimenez 2 run HR in the top of 9 to give the Sox a 3-1 lead
Next game - 6/19 v CWS
#TheACE Jon Lester(5-5 4.08 ERA) v Lucas Giolito (10-1 2.20 ERA)
Rizzo(19) Baez(17) Schwarber(16) and Bryant(15) are the lone quartet of teammates in the league to reach 15 home runs so far this season.