MESA, Arizona — It’s pretty sad when, apart from Luis Robert Jr., the most recognizable member of the White Sox travel squad that appeared at Sloan Park Saturday was their manager, Will Venable, who was a Cubs coach from 2018-20.
Oh, I guess their starting catcher Saturday, Matt Thaiss, was a Cub for about four weeks this past offseason after they got him from the Angels for cash considerations in November. The same considerations were given to the Cubs from the White Sox in December. Matt, we hardly knew ye.
We hardly knew any of the other White Sox who played Saturday afternoon as the Cubs defeated them easily, 7-3. It’s gonna be another looooong summer on the South Side, methinks.
Justin Steele breezed through the Sox lineup easily in his two innings of work. He gave up a couple of dinky little singles and struck out five. Here are the five K’s [VIDEO].
He looked sharp, which is great. Steele is in line to start the second game of the season, March 19 in Tokyo against the Dodgers, and should get three more outings before then.
After his two innings, Steele went to the bullpen to throw some more:
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Here’s what Steele had to say about his outing after the game [VIDEO].
The Cubs were retired 1-2-3 by Jared Shuster in the first inning. Shuster figures to be in the White Sox rotation this year, and he got hit hard by the Cubs in the second, when they scored five runs.
Moises Ballesteros led off with a single and one out later, went to third on a doulbe by James Triantos. Gage Workman’s ground out made it 1-0 Cubs, with Triantos taking third, where he scored on this double by Ben Cowles [VIDEO].
Christian Franklin then walked, and Kevin Alcántara singled in Cowles to make it 3-0 [VIDEO].
That was followed by a run-scoring single by Michael Busch that plated Franklin to make it 4-0. But Alcántara never stopped running, and the Sox appeared flummoxed on the play. Alcántara scored all the way from first to make it 5-0. You can see that play beginning at 1:10 of this clip [VIDEO].
Kevin Alcántara can be a force on the field, I think. He’s got great baseball instincts and plays the game with joy and enthusiasm. He’s not going to make the Opening Day roster, but I suspect we will see him at Wrigley Field at some point this year.
Julian Merryweather threw a scoreless inning. Caleb Thielbar, who at this time appears to be the only lefty in the bullpen, did not have a good inning. He allowed a leadoff double to Brandon Drury and two-run homer to Colson Montgomery. He’s going to have to be better than that.
The Cubs put two more on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Cowles led off with this long home run [VIDEO].
You can see why Jed Hoyer wanted him in the Mark Leiter Jr. trade. The man can hit. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a spot on the 26-man roster for Cowles, but he’ll be at Triple-A Iowa this year in case the Cubs need a backup infielder.
After Cowles’ homer, Franklin singled and one out later, Busch doubled him in to make it 7-2. A Sox solo homer off Eli Morgan in the sixth completed the scoring.
Porter Hodge, Ethan Roberts and Trevor Richards all threw scoreless innings for the Cubs Saturday. Hodge will be on the Opening Day roster, likely used as a setup man for Ryan Pressly. Roberts and Richards might be in the Iowa pen this year.
Attendance watch: The game came up a bit short of a sellout. 14,746 paid at Sloan Park on another gorgeous weather day in the Valley of the Sun. The season total for two dates is 30,452, or 15,226 per date.
We have yet to see Kyle Tucker play this spring; hopefully that will happen Sunday. Colin Rea gets the start Sunday afternoon for the Cubs against the Rangers, who will counter with Cody Bradford. Game time is again 2:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network. There will also be a radio broadcast on 670 The Score.
