Cubs trying to stay on an even keel while White Sox mark special family and career moments – The Denver Post

The Chicago Cubs did not let a series-opening loss to the lowly Kansas City Royals derail their weekend, delivering a series win led by Justin Steele and Kyle Hendricks.

After a week of interleague games against the Cubs and Colorado Rockies, the Sox will see plenty of the American League West with the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics coming to Guaranteed Rate Field.

Every Monday throughout the season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead for the Cubs and Sox.

Cubs not taking their schedule for granted

The Cubs took care of business as they needed to against the second-worst team in baseball over the weekend.

Coming off their series win versus the Kansas City Royals, the Cubs must continue to secure series victories the rest of the way, and the current stretch in their schedule provides ample opportunities. They begin a seven-game road trip Monday in Detroit before a four-game set in Pittsburgh that leads into back-to-back pivotal series against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds.

However, manager David Ross reiterated a day-to-day approach focusing on the task at hand and avoiding any assumptions about the quality of teams they face in the next week.

“Last year in the second half after the trade deadline we had a really good record and did a lot of things so I don’t think we have a group to take anything for granted,” Ross said. “We’ll continue to approach things like that.”

“I know record is one thing but we were also that team last year and made it harder on a lot of other teams that thought we were not very good.”

The Cubs went 39-31 in the second half of 2022, a performance that created encouraging momentum in what became a busy free agency offseason for the organization. Ross continues to reiterate the same process as the regular season winds down: Trying to get better every day. He believes that singular focus has helped breed consistency, a must for playoff contenders.

“We have the same meetings, we go over the same topics every single day,” Ross said. “We go over the strengths and weaknesses of the other team and how we feel like we’re going to stack up against them and form a plan each and every series. That’s why we play this thing out, 162.

“When you’re part of winning teams, it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to break a curse of 108 years or you’re going out and trying to trying to win the ballgame that day, you have to have your process to go out there and compete to the highest level every single day and that shouldn’t change. You adjust that to help yourself, but it doesn’t change because of the team on the other side.”

Special weekend for Jimmy and Peter Lambert

Chicago White Sox reliever Jimmy Lambert estimated the last time he and younger brother Peter were on the same field was 2013.

“My senior year in high school,” Jimmy Lambert said Friday at Coors Field. “He was a sophomore. It’s the only time we were ever on the same team.”

Peter Lambert started for the Colorado Rockies on Friday against the Sox.

“It’s something we’ve thought about for a long time,” Jimmy Lambert said. “We’ve never played against each other our entire lives, to do so in the major leagues is kind of crazy.

“He was two years younger but I looked up to him in a lot of ways, he made it to the big leagues first, he was drafted before me. I’d like to say he looks up to me but I look up to him. He’s shown me what’s possible in this game.”

Jimmy Lambert was hoping for something like a 2-1 Sox win. It did not turn out that way as the Rockies thumped the Sox 14-1. Plenty of family and friends were in attendance.

Jimmy, 28, watched as Peter, 26, allowed one run on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk in seven innings. Jimmy Lambertdid not get in the game. He pitched Saturday, allowing two runs on two hits in two innings of the 11-5 loss.

Jimmy Lambert said that the two often talk pitching.

“We’re super similar pitchers, similar people in general,” he said. “He’s probably my best friend. So we talk all the time, whether it’s baseball or whatever.

“There’s times when he’s down and I’d like to think I help him out and there’s times when I’m down and he helps me out. Whether it’s mentally or physically or with mechanics.”

What we’re reading this morning

Week ahead: Cubs

For the first time since the Cubs traded him to the New York Mets on July 30, 2021, shortstop Javier Báez is facing his old team when his former organization plays a three-game series in Detroit starting Monday.

It features a matchup between the shortstop the Cubs moved on from (Báez) to the one they made a long-term commitment to (Dansby Swanson). The Tigers inked Báez to a six-year, $140 million contract in December while the Cubs gave Swanson $177 million over seven years during the offseason.

Báez, 30, struggled in his first year with the Tigers, and those issues have become more pronounced this season. Báez is hitting .224 with a .264 on-base percentage, .328 slugging percentage and 63 OPS+ in 111 games — despite producing his lowest strikeout rate (22.8%) of his career.

• Monday: at Tigers, 5:40 p.m. Marquee
• Tuesday: at Tigers, 5:40 p.m. Marquee
• Wednesday: at Tigers, 12:10 p.m. Marquee
• Thursday: at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. Marquee
• Friday: at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. Marquee
• Saturday: at Pirates, 6:15 p.m. Fox
• Sunday: at Pirates, 12:35 p.m. Marquee

Week ahead: White Sox

Elvis Andrus homered on the first pitch of Friday’s game against the Rockies at Coors Field.

He scored again in the first inning Saturday, swiping home when Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland attempted a pickoff at first base.

Andrus had three hits Friday and two more Saturday while shifting over from second base to shortstop with Tim Anderson serving his five-game suspension. Andrus was 0-for-3 on Sunday before being ejected by home plate umpire Clint Vondrak for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth. Andrus was in the dugout when he was tossed while Luis Robert Jr. was batting.

Friday’s home run was the 100th of his career.

“I’m very glad I could accomplish that,” Andrus said Friday. “I love taking advantage of those first-pitch fastballs and not trying to do too much, especially in this ballpark. The ball flies very good.”

It’s been a season of milestones for Andrus. He collected his 2,000th career hit on April 5 and reached 2,000 games in his career on June 21.

Anderson is eligible to return from the suspension Wednesday.

• Monday: vs. Mariners, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
• Tuesday: vs. Mariners, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
• Wednesday: vs. Mariners, 1:10 p.m., NBCSCH
• Thursday: vs. Athletics, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
• Friday: vs. Athletics, 6:10 p.m., NBCSCH
• Saturday: vs. Athletics, 6:10 p.m., NBCSCH
• Sunday: vs. Athletics, 1:10 p.m., NBCSCH

This week in Chicago baseball

Aug. 21, 1926: White Sox’s Ted Lyons pitched a no-hitter over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

The 6-0 victory was achieved in 1 hour, 7 minutes.

Aug. 21, 1975: Pitching brothers Rick and Paul Reuschel of the Cubs combined to throw a 7-0 shutout against the Dodgers.

Rick went 6 1/3 innings and Paul finished the shutout for the first ever by two brothers.

Aug. 21, 2018: Michael Kopech makes his MLB debut for White Sox

The debut of the White Sox’s top pitching prospect was treated like a turning point in the rebuild. Kopech’s debut was eventful to be sure, though it ended rather awkwardly when he was denied a chance to return after a 52-minute rain delay.

“I wanted to go a little deeper into the game,” he said after throwing two scoreless innings. “I didn’t realize my pitch count was as high as it was (52 pitches), but either way I got to experience the debut, and it was a dream come true.”

Kopech’s two scoreless innings were electric, with the crowd of 23,133 on its feet and cheering each time he got to two strikes on a Twins hitter. He finished with four strikeouts, including the last one to Joe Mauer on the final pitch of his night.

“I didn’t expect that,” he said of the ovations. “It made me feel like I was in a big-time game. And I guess it was a big-time game for me. It was awesome.”

Sox vice president of marketing Brooks Boyer said walk-up sales were about 8,000 and they lifted the attendance to 23,133. The Sox drew an extra 5,000 in walk-up sales for Yoan Moncada’s debut last year.

Boyer saw Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf before the game and facetiously asked “Any other prospects we can bring up?”

Aug. 22, 1982: The Cubs retire Ernie Banks’ No. 14 jersey.

Banks, whose Hall of Fame career spanned from 1953-71, became the first to have his number retired by the Cubs.

Billy Williams (No. 26) followed in 1987, then Ron Santo (No. 10, in 2003) and Ryne Sandberg (No. 23, in 2005). The Cubs retired the No. 31 worn by both Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux in 2009. Every team retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in 1997.

Known as “Mr. Cub,” Banks is the all-time franchise leader in games played (2,528), at-bats (9,421) and total bases (4,706). He won two MVP awards, made 14 All-Star teams and blasted 512 home runs.

Aug. 24, 1905: Cubs beat the Phillies 2-1 in 20 innings behind the complete game pitching of Ed Reulbach.

Quotable

“I’m kind of at the point of my career that I’ve never been here before. I have, but I haven’t. It’s something that I’m wrestling with, trying to continue to keep trying to find that positive with a lot of negative things going around. So it’s kind of hard to find that positive. But I’m obsessed with continuing to keep getting better, a better player, a better person.” — White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson.

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