The Chicago Cubs knew the significant threat White Sox outfielder Duke Ellis posed as soon as he entered the bottom of the ninth inning as a pinch runner.
The Cubs were aware Ellis had tallied 34 steals in 39 games at Double A this year, and the 26-year-old wasted no time recording the first of his big-league career, swiping second base on the first pitch with one out as the Sox trailed by one run. They prepared for Ellis to be on the move again, and closer Héctor Neris’ perfect execution on his second pickoff throw to second baseman Nico Hoerner nailed him.
Two pitches later, Neris got Corey Julks to foul out to give the Cubs a 7-6 comeback win over the Sox in the first game of the City Series at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs (30-31) needed to rally from a 5-0 deficit and finally got the power they had been missing to drive in multiple runs. Christopher Morel and Patrick Wisdom each slugged a two-run home run in the sixth to tie the game. Ian Happ connected for a two-run go-ahead double off right-hander Jordan Leasure in the eighth, a sequence set up by Cody Bellinger beating a throw to second on a force-out attempt on Christopher Morel’s infield single.
“It’s not easy to hold runners with these rules, it’s not easy to pick guys off,” Happ said of Ellis. “And that he was looking to take third in that situation — to be on third with one out, that’s a completely different ballgame — so to get that out there, massive. Great job. I know our pitchers are super aware of the running game and they’ve done a really good job the last three, four games having been in control.”
The pickoff call came from the dugout after seeing Ellis’ leadoffs and apparent plan to try stealing third.
“When you put plays like that on you’re not really thinking out, you’re just thinking keeping him close and maybe he takes a wrong step,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “And he was caught leaning the other way.”
Ellis, in his major-league debut, got a good jump on the first pitch Neris threw after reaching second but shut it down and returned to the base.
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“It was honestly a dream come true and that was the situation I wanted to be in,” Ellis said. “I’m glad they trust me to be in that situation and hopefully there will be a lot more to come behind that. … The next time I’m in that situation, trust the instincts and go on the first jump. Then we don’t have to worry about it.”
Sox manager Pedro Grifol wanted Ellis to steal third immediately while Julks was still at the plate to give them a chance to tie the game on a sacrifice fly.
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“He was put there to do exactly what he did, and he got picked off,” Grifol said. “It’s not a big deal. That’s not what won us or lost us the game. This one got away.”
The Sox (15-46) have lost a season-high 12 consecutive games, tied for the second-longest streak in franchise history, and 16 of their last 17. They immediately answered after the Cubs tied the game, capitalizing on Luis Robert Jr.’s return from the injured list with his two-out solo home run in the seventh in his first game back. The Sox used a big fourth inning to take control against lefty Shota Imanaga. A Morel fielding error at third base led to five runs scoring, four unearned. But the Sox’s bullpen couldn’t lock down the victory.
“I thought we did a good job of putting balls in play,” Grifol said. “(Lenyn) Sosa did a really good job of hunting a pitch and got it and did what he was supposed to do with it. Overall I thought our offense did OK. They executed their (at-bats), they went with the plan. It was a tough one.”
The late comeback has been a rarity for the Cubs so far this season. They entered Tuesday 1-23 when trailing to start the eighth inning. Imanaga didn’t return after the 42-minute rain delay that went into effect mid at-bat in the fifth inning. The break didn’t faze the trailing Cubs, however.
“We knew that we were gonna answer back,” Wisdom said. “There was no sense of panic in here. Like, let’s get this rain delay over with and get back out there and put it to ’em.”
