Major League Baseball

Cubs shut down rival White Sox for 3-1 win

Published Jul. 12, 2015 5:02 p.m. ET

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CHICAGO (AP) Jake Arrieta is taking a few days off for the All-Star break. But on Sunday, it looked like he shouldn't be.

Arrieta did it all for the Cubs, limiting the cross town rival White Sox to just two hits while pitching a complete game and hitting a home run of his own to send the Cubs into the break on a high note with a 3-1 win.

Arrieta (10-5), who struck out nine, including all three batters in the ninth inning, pitched his second complete game of the season and goes into the All Star break having now already matched his season high for wins.

While his teammates Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant will head to Cincinnati for the All-Star Game, Arrieta will get a break to spend some time with family. But he's fine with that - more about how his teammates view him than the All Star voting fans.

''Those individual accolades are great,'' Arrieta said. ''But I know that my teammates, they can count on me to come up big for us. I thought about that stuff a little bit several days ago, but you know, it's out of sight, out of mind now. I'm actually looking forward to having a couple days off, doing some things with the kids.''

Whatever All Star voters think of Arrieta, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Sunday's performance showed he's among the league's best.

''His stuff is definitely in the elite level of all major league pitchers, there's no question,'' Maddon said. ''He was a strike thrower today, his curve ball is ridiculously one of the best ... the slider you saw. I mean, it was just really, really well done. Hits homers.''

White Sox manager Robin Ventura saw the same thing.

''Today we ran into a very good pitcher,'' Ventura said. ''We couldn't get much going on offensively. Really, he was outstanding.''

White Sox starter Jose Quintana (4-9) pitched well in the losing effort, also striking out nine. He gave up three runs and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings.

Arrieta's leadoff home run in the fifth, which barely cleared the wall in left field, was his first in the majors.

''I would have liked to have hit the first one knowing it was a homer instead of having to sprint to first,'' Arrieta said. ''But yeah, I mean, that was cool.''

BATTED AND BRUISED

Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo was hit on the elbow by a pitch thrown by Jose Quintana in the third inning and leads the league in being hit with 19. Rizzo has been hit by a pitch more times this year already than any Cubs player in any whole season going back to 1900 and is tied for seventh most-plunked batter before the All Star break in major league history.

CROSSTOWN FULL HOUSE

The attendance of 41,688 for the Crosstown Cup game was the largest of the season so far at Wrigley Field. The Cubs and White Sox will play the south side half of the rivalry series Aug. 14-16 at Cellular Field. The Sox won three of four games between the teams last season.

LET'S PLAY TWO

The Cubs wore 1958 throwback uniforms on Sunday, all with No. 14, to honor Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, who died in January.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: The White Sox rested 1B Jose Abreu on Sunday to give him a five-day stint to let a sore leg and right index finger have some time to heal. Abreu had been playing through the soreness, and was on a 13-game hitting streak entering the game. ''This is just to give him an extra day going into the All-Star break to get four days and an extra one,'' White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. Abreu is hitting .296 with 14 home runs in 81 games.

Cubs: Cubs catcher Miguel Montero jammed his left thumb in Saturday's loss to the White Sox. Manager Joe Maddon said the club is still waiting on test results before determining if a DL stint will be necessary. Maddon also did not rule out the possibility of recalling catcher Kyle Schwarber from Triple-A Iowa. Schwarber is hitting .323 with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs between the Cubs' Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. Schwarber spent six games with the Cubs in June and was used as the designated hitter while they visited American League ballparks as part of their interleague schedule. He was 8 for 22 with a homer. Before the game, the Cubs activated catcher David Ross from the seven-day concussion disabled list. Ross is hitting .189 in 38 games as the Cubs backup catcher. To make room, the Cubs optioned outfielder Mike Baxter to Triple-A Iowa.

UP NEXT

White Sox: The White Sox open the second half of the season with a four-game series against Kansas City that starts with a split doubleheader on Friday. Manager Robin Ventura said RHP Jeff Samardzija (6-4) and John Danks (4-8) will start those games. The White Sox are 2-4 this season against the Royals.

Cubs: After the All-Star break, RHP Kyle Hendricks (4-4) is scheduled to start for the Cubs on Friday at Atlanta. He has a 22 1-3 scoreless innings streak.

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