Ian Happ keys late rally, Cubs come back twice to top White Sox 7-6

CHICAGO (AP) Ian Happ's second double of the night drove in two runs to put the Chicago Cubs ahead in the eighth inning, and the North Siders came back twice to beat the crosstown White Sox 7-6 at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.

Happ's third hit of the game, lined to the right-field corner off Jordan Leasure, drove in Cody Bellinger and Christopher Morel to erase a one-run White Sox lead and deal them a 12th straight loss.

The Cubs came out on top in a seesaw finish to win for just the third time in 12 games.

""It was a good ballgame and lots of back and forth," Cubs first-year manager Craig Counsell said of his first Chicago Crosstown Classic experience. "We had some big hits and we needed some big hits.

“It was a fun night, really, scoring late-inning runs like that. Some homers, Ian's double in the eighth obviously.”

Luis Robert Jr. launched a 448-foot solo shot to the left-center bleachers in his return to the lineup to break a tie in the seventh and put the White Sox ahead 6-5. The All-Star center fielder added a single in his first game in nearly two months after being sidelined by a right hip flexor strain.

“Robert gave us the lead right back,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “And we gave the lead back to them. Hard-fought ballgame.

“This one obviously got away from us. We’ve got to close these things out, we really do.”

Morel and pinch-hitter Patrick Wisdom each hit two-run homers in the sixth to erase the White Sox's four-run lead and tie the game at 5.

"When you’re going through a tough stretch, you've got to grind out every win," Happ said. “It would have been really easy in that situation to kind of fold and not come back."

Light-hitting Lenyn Sosa lined a two-run homer and Korey Lee doubled in two runs in the White Sox's five-run rally in the fourth inning off Cubs starter Shota Imanaga.

Morel hit his team-leading 11th homer. But the third baseman also made an error fielding Paul DeJong’s chopper to set up the White Sox’s rally in the fourth.

Luke Little (2-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Hector Neris worked around a walk - and picked off pinch runner Duke Ellis after he stole second - in the ninth for his eighth save.

White Sox starter Chris Flexen allowed one run on three hits in five innings, striking out four and walking none before the bullpen faltered. Leasure (0-1), the last of four White Sox relievers, allowed two runs on two hits in the eight.

Imanaga was charged with with five runs - one earned - on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings in his 11th start. The 30-year-old left-hander from Japan struck out six and walked none as his ERA nudged up to 1.88.

Imanaga was relieved by Tyson Miller following a 42-minute rain delay in the top of the fifth.

The White Sox took a 5-0 lead in the fourth. Four of the runs were unearned

With runners on first and second, Morel flubbed an attempt to backhand DeJong’s bouncer down the line. That allowed Andrew Vaughn to race home from second and open the scoring.

Lee lined a double to the left-field corner to make it 3-0. He came home on Sosa’s homer, his first this season and eighth of his career.

Robert, who hit 38 homers and drove in 80 runs in a breakout season in 2023, had been out since April 6.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: RHP Colten Brewer (low back strain) was scheduled to make rehab appearance at Triple-A-Iowa.

White Sox: The injury-plagued White Sox also placed OF Tommy Pham (left ankle sprain) and OF Dominic Fletcher (left shoulder strain) on the 10-day injured list retroactive to June 3. Chicago recalled outfielder Zach DeLoach from Charlotte and selected the contract of speedy outfielder Ellis from Double-A Birmingham.

UP NEXT

The White Sox send RHP Erick Fedde (4-1, 3.12) to the mound against Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (3-2, 2.84) on Wednesday night.