CHICAGO — For the second straight night, the Cubs jumped out to a big lead in the City Series.
This time, Alec Mills made sure there would be no epic rally from the White Sox.
Patrick Wisdom hit a solo home run and Rafael Ortega hit a grand slam during a five-run fourth inning to power the Cubs to a 7-0 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 38,668 on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Wisdom hit another solo home run an inning later, giving him four homers in the first two games of the series.
It was a rare off day for Sox starter Lance Lynn. The Cy Young Award candidate allowed a season-high seven runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
On the flip side there was Mills, who allowed four hits, struck out three and walked two in 8 1/3 innings.
The Cubs built a 6-0 lead in the first inning of Friday’s series opener, only for the Sox to score the next 13 runs on the way to a 17-13 win.
That game was highlighted by the long ball. Yasmani Grandal hit two three-run homers for the Sox, while the Cubs had four home runs, two by Wisdom.
The Cubs continued to flex their muscles Saturday. But first they used some small ball in the form of a safety squeeze in the second by Robinson Chirinos that brought home Matt Duffy for the game’s first run.
Wisdom’s solo home run to left led off the fourth. Ortega’s slam, on an 0-2 fastball with two outs, put the Cubs ahead 6-0 again.
They tacked on another run an inning later with Wisdom’s second homer.
That was more than enough for Mills, who didn’t run into much trouble for most of the night.
José Abreu doubled in the first, César Hernández singled in the third and Yoán Moncada singled in the fourth and ninth for the only Sox hits.
Moncada extended his hitting streak to 14 games, matching a career high. Abreu followed Moncada’s fourth-inning hit by grounding into a double play. It was an indication that Saturday indeed would be different.
