Eloy Jiménez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning in his first game against his first major league organization, helping the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Tuesday night.
The 22-year-old Jiménez was a top prospect for the Cubs before he headlined a rare trade with the White Sox for veteran left-hander José Quintana in July 2017. The Jiménez deal will live on in sports bars all over Chicago for many years to come, and the rookie added another wrinkle with one big swing in his first game at Wrigley Field.
James McCann hit a leadoff single before Jiménez drove a 1-0 pitch from Pedro Strop (1-3) over the wall in left for his 12th homer. Considered one of baseball's top young sluggers, Jiménez has gone deep six times in his last nine games.
Evan Marshall (3-0) got two outs for the win and Alex Colomé worked the ninth for his 15th save in 15 chances. Four White Sox relievers combined for four scoreless innings after Iván Nova turned in one of his best starts of the season.
The slumping Cubs kicked off a 10-game homestand with their fourth loss in their last five games. Kyle Schwarber connected for his 16th homer and Cole Hamels pitched seven sparkling innings, but that was it for the North Siders.
Hamels became the 10th left-hander with 2,500 career strikeouts when he threw a called third strike past Nova for the first out of the third. The crowd responded with a big cheer when his accomplishment was displayed on the videoboard, and Hamels waved his cap in appreciation.
Jiménez had a chance to get the White Sox off to a fast start when he batted with the bases loaded in the first. But Hamels got him to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
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Schwarber then lined Nova's first pitch of the game into the bleachers in left for his fourth career leadoff homer. He also started Thursday's 7-3 loss to the Dodgers with a home run on Clayton Kershaw's first pitch.
The White Sox tied it in the sixth. Leury García led off with a double and Tim Anderson followed with a hard grounder into the hole at shortstop. Javier Báez made a sliding stop, but he threw wild to first and García hustled home on the error.
