CHICAGO – Yasmani Grandal still has a bit of work to do to regain the energy required for his catcher duties, after nearly two months of absence due to a knee injury.
Instead, his hitting looks great.
Grandal hit two home runs and produced a whopping eight runs on his return after remaining on the disabled list as the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 17-13 on Friday night.
The eight RBIs equaled the record for a franchise player. The ambidextrous Cuban had never pushed that number in the majors.
In addition, Grandal contributed a double and a single.
“I felt pretty tired in the middle of the game, after running, blocking, moving behind the plate. But everything will come with work ”, he commented. “Thank God I’m back and I have a month of games to regain energy and feel good in the playoffs.”
Also manager Tony La Russa is happy about the return of Grandal.
“Obviously he has worked a lot, because his swing was in tune,” he said. “I mean it had a really impressive production.”
His compatriot José Abreu added three hits and a pair of RBIs for the White Sox, who improved at home to a 43-23 record, the most outstanding in the American League this year. Another Cuban, Luis Robert, hit three hits and scored three times, while fellow Cuban Yoán Moncada extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
The White Sox, leaders of the AL Central, improved to 4-0 against the Cubs. They beat them in the campaign series, something they hadn’t achieved since 2014.
The Cubs, quarterfinals in their division, scored six times in the first inning against Dallas Keuchel, but could not hold off against the powerful batting of the White Sox.
Reynaldo López (3-1) solved five innings, in which he struck out seven, to emerge victorious.
The loss went to Adrian Samspon (0-1).
For the Cubs, the Venezuelan Robinson Chirinos 4-1 with a run scored and an RBI.
For the White Sox, the Cubans Robert 5-3 with three runs scored and one RBI, Abreu 5-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs, Moncada 4-1 with two runs scored and two RBIs, Grandal 6-4 with two scored and eight produced. The Dominicans Eloy Jiménez 3-1 with three runs scored and two produced, Leury García 5-0. The Venezuelan César Hernández 5-0.
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