Cubs Strike First In Crosstown Classic, Win 6-3
By Connor McKnight-
CHICAGO (CBS) White Sox starter Gavin Floyd couldn't keep Starlin Castro down Monday night at US Cellular Park. Castro's two-run single in the third and solo homer in the sixth pulled the Cubs into a tie while Carlos Pena's three-run homer three batters later was enough to do-in the Sox for the night.
Manager Ozzie Guillen was ejected from the game in the sixth when shortstop Alexei Ramirez grounded out to the catcher on a ball that just sat at the dish. Guillen, who argued the ball rolled behind the plate, capped off the argument by kicking Cubs' catcher Geovany Soto's mask toward the White Sox dugout.
"Well, he was right I was wrong," Guillen said after the game about the call in question. "Because [if] I say what I want to say it cost me another twenty grand. Then I just going to leave it that way. He was right. I was wrong. I got kicked out of the game. I'm tired of paying people money for no reason.
"You know, you get frustration. That play--I get it right in front of me. This year you not see me on the field that often. When I'm on the field [it's] just to protect the player. I use the glasses but just to read and write. I can see a little far."
When asked about the more theatrical part of his departure from the game, Guillen said, "Well if I kick it 20 years ago, I might break my toe. They make the masks so light and so good. I no feel anything. I just see it fly out of here."
As for the baseball, Floyd went just five innings and gave up all six earned runs on five hits and three walks. Asked about the fifth inning--where the Cubs scored four runs on a solo-homer from Castro and a three-run bomb by Pena--Floyd said, "You know, I made a bad pitch to ... Castro. It's just one of those things. You get two strikes and you gotta make a better pitch. It just kind of led to getting guys on then I made a bad pitch to Pena."
While the game began with an expectant and somewhat riled crowd, the energy dissipated some throughout the game and Paul Konerko noticed, "It still feels different but it was closer in the direction of just a regular game. It was a big crowd and, for us, we don't sell out here like that all the time. It definitely has a different vibe to it. Probably overall, yeah, the Monday thing doesn't make sense for the Cubs and Sox."
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