Andrew Benintendi described Sunday as “the first day in a while I squared up a few balls.”
The Chicago White Sox left fielder homered twice in the 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of the Rate Field portion of the City Series in front of 38,036.
Benintendi hit a solo home run in the first. His three-run home run in the eighth cut the deficit to one.
The Sox brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth, but Lenyn Sosa grounded into a force play to end the game.
“We lost the series, so obviously we’re not happy with that,” manager Will Venable said. “We thought coming in we put ourselves in a good position. You win the first one, you like your chances to get one of the next two to win the series. So we have things that we have to continue to work on and get better at and regroup here and go to work (Monday) on the (Philadelphia) Phillies.”
Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s game.
1. The Sox made too many mental and physical mistakes.
Third baseman Colson Montgomery had a fielding error in the second inning on Sunday. Shortstop Chase Meidroth had a throwing error in the sixth.
Neither error came back to cost the Sox.
But a mental miscue in the third drained the momentum of what could have been a big inning.
The Sox had runners on first and second with one out. Meidroth hit a popup and was automatically out when the infield fly rule was called. Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner let the ball drop. Sosa, who was on second, took off for third base even though he did not have to. He was thrown out to complete an inning-ending double play.
“That’s a play we talk about a lot and he just got stuck, a little bit of a mental error there where he didn’t see the call being made,” Venable said. “But that’s kind of an automatic one where you know that ball is out. He’s got to do a better job on that and he knows that and we discussed it.”
City Series photos: Cubs 5, White Sox 4 at Rate Field on Sunday
Then the lack of execution during a pair of rundowns cost the Sox a run in the eighth.
The Cubs had runners at first and second with two outs.
Catcher Edgar Quero threw to first to try to get Hoerner in a back pick. A rundown followed. Ian Happ took off for home and got caught in a rundown himself when the Sox threw to the plate.
Happ ran into Montgomery on the way back to third and the third baseman was called for interference. Happ was awarded home, extending the Cubs’ lead to 5-1.
“Two rundowns where we really didn’t execute either of them,” Venable said. “The first one, (first baseman Miguel Vargas has) got to do a better job of getting Hoerner going. (The second baseman) Sosa’s got to cut the distance. And then obviously you can’t have an obstruction call.
“We’ve got to do a better job on the second rundown, too. We know if you don’t execute plays like that it’s going to hurt you. Today was a good example of that.”
2. Luis Robert Jr. ‘still getting there’ while dealing with adductor tightness.
Luis Robert Jr. initially wasn’t in Sunday’s starting lineup after missing the first two games of the City Series because of right adductor tightness.
But he later received the OK to return as the designated hitter.
“The initial evaluation, he came in feeling better but still not in a spot where he could get out there in center field,” Venable said before the game. “We wanted to keep him plugged in and give him the opportunity to run around more, and he did.
“We talked about it, and he really talked his way into the lineup after that. We agreed that maybe center field wasn’t the best thing for him but that we could utilize his bat and that he was good to go to DH. We ended up making the change.”
Robert went 0-for-3.
“Physically, he’s still getting there,” Venable said after the game. “But I thought there was good, competitive swings, competitive at-bats and nice to see him out there.”
Robert got hit by a pitch in the ninth. X-rays on his right forearm were negative.
All eyes are on Robert, who has been mentioned in trade speculation. The trade deadline is Thursday.
3. Grant Taylor runs into tough luck as the opener.
Grant Taylor made his second career start on Sunday, serving as the opener.
He ran into some trouble in the first inning, allowing a double with one out to Kyle Tucker and then walking Seiya Suzuki. Pete Crow-Armstrong then went the other way with a hit just inside the third-base line. Tucker scored easily and the ball slowed up enough in foul territory to allow Suzuki to score from first.
Taylor allowed two runs on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk in one inning.
“That double they got in the first inning was a weird little hit by PCA,” said pitcher Sean Burke, who followed Taylor. “Grant is doing everything he can and his stuff looked good.”
Burke allowed two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in 4 2/3 innings. Both runs came with two outs in the sixth, an RBI single by Hoerner followed by an RBI double from Matt Shaw to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead.
“Just frustrating not being able to finish that fifth inning (of work),” Burke said. “I’m able to get out of that, got Hoerner down to (a) two-strike count and one more strike, one more out to get through that inning. If I’m able to clean that up, then we win that game instead of losing it by one run.”