Game Recap: Cubs sweep White Sox to win Crosstown Cup

Brujan was all smiles after scoring (David Banks - USA Today Sports)

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 6 hours ago

CHICAGO - One of the best things in baseball is coming to a jam-packed Wrigley Field during the warm Summer Months. What makes that even better is when the Chicago Cubs (28-19) are relevant again and playing some terrific baseball. It took longer than expected, but the Cubs were finally able to complete a three-game sweep at home, and it came on a Sunday, which has been a struggle for the Cubs most of the season.

Facing off against the Chicago White Sox (14-33) in the first round of the Crosstown Cup, the Cubs showed the White Sox how good their offense can be with a relentless attack that scored 20 runs through the first two games. Even if their offense wasn't as sharp on Sunday as it was in their previous games, the Cubs still took care of business to close out the sweep as they delivered another strong performance, 6-2.

As has been the case for the better part of a month, Colin Rea continued to go about his business, and he is doing a great job filling in for Justin Steele. Nothing about what Rea does will blow you away, but he knows how to pitch and is as consistent as they come as he gave the Cubs 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball ot lower his ERA to 2.38.

Granted, he didn't earn the win as the Cubs offense got off to a slow start, but the Cubs are now 6-1 in the games he starts this season, which is all you can ask for. Facing off against Jonathan Cannon, it was the Cubs who put the pressure on right away as Pete Crow-Armstrong led things off with a leadoff triple. Two batters later, the Cubs found themselves in front 1-0 as Seiya Suzuki picked up the sacrifice fly.

As hard as it is to believe, it was the first time that the Cubs scored first in this series, but with neither team doing much of anything the next few innings, it was starting to feel like a pitcher's duel. Still trailing by a run in the fourth, Miguel Vargas continued an already dominating series with his third homer of the weekend and brought things back to even 1-1. Had it not been for Vargas, the White Sox would've scored two runs across the first 22 innings, as he was the main part of their offense.

Even with Cannon allowing a first-inning run, the right-hander did his best to keep the Cubs offense in check and kept his team in the game as he allowed only one run through five innings. That alone kept the Sox in the game throughout the early stages, and with Edgar Quero and Brooks Baldwin working a pair of walks in the fifth, this was the best opportunity they had to grab the lead.

That opportunity immediately went out the window as Rea escaped the jam with an inning-ending double play before exiting the game in the sixth after allowing another Vargas hit. Drew Pomeranz took over for Rea, and with his scoreless outing, he has yet to allow a run since joining the Cubs.

It took six innings for the Cubs' offense to finally break through against Cannon, but you know what they say, better late than never. All it took was the speed of the Cubs order to get the job done as Vidal Brujan led things off with a single before racing home on a Pete Crow-Armstrong double. Following an error that moved PCA to third and allowed Kyle Tucker to reach second, Suzuki came through with his second sacrifice fly of the game as the Cubs pushed their lead to 3-1.

Chicago capped off their three-run sixth with a Michael Busch single as the Cubs opened up a 4-1 lead with their best relievers set to take over. That would be all the offense they would need as the trio of Brad Keller, Ryan Pressly, and Julian Merryweather took care of the rest, although Merryweather did allow a run in the ninth on the Quero RBI grounder.

Even with that run coming home, it doesn't take away from the Cubs breaking the game open with five unanswered runs, with Brujan adding an RBI single in the seventh before Nico Hoerner closed things out for the Cubs with an RBI double in the eighth. With the win, the Cubs have completed their first three-game sweep at home and second three-game sweep of the season as they are now a season-high nine games above .500.

The Cubs will look to continue their strong run of play as they head to Miami to open up a three-game set with the Marlins. Ben Brown is set to make the start as he will face off against Edward Cabrera.