CHICAGO — As new Chicago White Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel made the unfamiliar trek from the visitors bullpen Friday at Wrigley Field in Game 1 of the City Series, hearty applause from Cubs fans greeted him in his return.
Fifteen minutes later, a mix of cheers from Cubs fans and boos from Sox fans among the crowd of 39,539 enveloped Kimbrel as he walked off the mound, pulled in the middle of the eighth. Moments earlier, Cubs shortstop Andrew Romine hit a game-tying, three-run homer off Kimbrel. The home run was as stunning as unlikely: Before that fateful pitch, Kimbrel had allowed only two earned runs in 39 1/3 innings this season with nearly two years passing since he last surrendered three runs in an outing.
Meanwhile, for the journeyman Romine, the homer was his first in the majors in more than four years.
The Sox offense, though, came alive in the 10th after Liam Hendriks entered and stranded an inherited base runner in the eighth and threw a scoreless ninth to force extra innings. Brian Goodwin’s two-run homer off right-hander Manuel Rodríguez was part of a four-run inning that sent nine Sox batters to plate en route to an 8-6 win.
Frank Schwindel hit a two-run homer to lead off the bottom of the 10th, but Garrett Crochet retired the next three Cubs hitters to earn the save.
The Sox were in control most of the game. For six-plus innings, the Cubs had no answer for Sox right-hander Lance Lynn.
Lynn kept throwing up zeros into the seventh when the Cubs finally brought home a run with Sox reliever Michael Kopech on the mound. It was the only run charged to Lynn while the offense produced two multi-run innings to build a 4-1 lead.
Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks dealt with traffic on the bases for most of the game. He allowed seven hits and walked three, two intentionally, in six innings. His seven strikeouts, one shy of his season high, helped minimize the damage.
The Sox took advantage of back-to-back singles to open the fourth, taking the lead on Andrew Vaughn’s RBI single. Two batters later, Seby Zavala connected for a two-out single for a 2-0 Sox lead.
David Bote came off the bench in the seventh to help the Cubs cut the lead to 2-1 with his pinch-hit sacrifice fly. Romine’s single to start the inning ended Lynn’s day.
