Perhaps now, the Cubs will go on a long winning streak, like the Cardinals and Twins have already this year.

The Cubs defeated the White Sox 6-2 on a beautiful, if a bit chilly, May afternoon at Wrigley Field. That gave them a sweep of the three-game series and a 5-1 record for the homestand.

The Sox threatened off Colin Rea in the top of the first. Chase Meidroth hit Rea’s first pitch for a double and went to third on a fly to right.

Then this happened [VIDEO].

What a perfect laser beam of a throw from Seiya Suzuki for the double play, and an excellent tag by Carson Kelly.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a triple — and not many hitters would have tried for third base on that hit, normally a ball like that is a double.

Kyle Tucker grounded to first, but then Suzuki lifted a fly to left, scoring PCA [VIDEO].

Michael Busch followed that with a single and stole second, one of nine steals the Cubs would have in this series. But he was stranded — and after that hit, the next 13 CUbs went down in order.

More on PCA’s extra-base hit from BCB’s JohnW53:

Pete Crow-Armstrong is just the fifth player in MLB history with at least 10 homers, doubles and steals, plus at least 3 triples, in the first 47 games of a team’s season.

Reggie Sanders of the Reds had 10 homers, 13 doubles, 3 triples and 13 steals in 1995.

Brian Roberts of the Orioles had 11, 11, 5 and 13 in 2005.

Mike Trout of the Angels had 10, 13, 5 and 10 in 2013.

Trevor Story of the Rockies had 10, 11, 3 and 14 in 2020.

PCA, with 12 homers, thus is the only player with more than 11 homers, plus at least 10 doubles and steals, and at least 3 triples.

Meanwhile, Miguel Vargas homered off Rea in the fourth, tying the game. Vargas is going to miss Wrigley, as he went 6-for-10 with three home runs on the weekend.

Rea got himself in trouble with a pair of walks in the fifth. With runners on first and second and one out, Rea induced this ground ball [VIDEO].

The call on the field was “safe,” but it was fairly quickly overturned on review.

About those walks by Rea:

The game went to the bottom of the sixth still 1-1, in part thanks to this K by Drew Pomeranz ending the sixth with two Sox runners on [VIDEO].

That’s when the Cubs offense got going. Vidal Bruján led off with a single and went to third on a double by PCA — but then scored when the throw went to second [VIDEO].

Tucker hit a fly to left that was dropped by Brooks Baldwin for an error, with PCA holding at third.

Suzuki’s second sac fly of the game made it 3-1 Cubs [VIDEO].

Tucker, who had held second on that fly ball, scored on this single by Busch [VIDEO].

Ryan Pressly threw an efficient scoreless seventh. More on that from BCB’s JohnW53:

This was Ryan Pressly’s 18th appearance. It was the 14th in which he allowed no runs. He allowed one run in two others, and in one of those the run was unearned.

So, in 16 appearances, he has given up one earned run. Those appearances amounted to 15⅓ innings, for an ERA of 0.59!

The Cubs added a run in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Nico Hoerner doubled down the left-field line and scored on Bruján’s second hit of the day [VIDEO].

Brad Keller, who has been very good lately, threw a scoreless eighth — but not until after he hit Vargas with two out and no one on [VIDEO].

Vargas was not happy with that, but to me, at least, that did not look intentional. It was just a fastball that got away. Still, umpires issued warnings to both benches. No further incidents occurred.d

The Cubs scored once more in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Dansby Swanson singled and one out later, Hoerner doubled him in [VIDEO].

Julian Merryweather was given the assignment of finishing things up. He did, but did not make it wasy. The first two White Sox, Luis Robert Jr. and Lenyn Sosa, hit a double and single, putting runners on second and third.

This groundout scored the Sox’ second run — and it was a really nice play by Swanson [VIDEO].

After a strikeout, Hoerner made this nice play for the final out [VIDEO].

Right there you see the value of a good defense. Without those two plays, that inning could have been a lot worse.

The Cubs’ win also accomplished this, from BCB’s JohnW53:

With their win, the Cubs are nine games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 13, 2023. This was their 224th game since then.

It sure doesn’t seem that long, does it? Now, the thing is to stay there and go higher. The Cardinals lost Sunday, so the Cubs’ lead in the NL Central is extended to two games.

One more note, from BCB’s Josh Timmers:

Matt Shaw was originally announced in Iowa’s starting lineup and was removed before game time. He could be sick, of course, but everyone seems to think it’s a call up.

Let the speculation begin!

A six-game road trip begins Monday in Miami, with the first of a three-game series against the Marlins. Ben Brown is the Cubs’ scheduled starter Monday, and Edward Cabrera will go for the Marlins. Game time is 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.