CHICAGO — This is what the Chicago White Sox expected when they made those big moves to acquire Jake Peavy and Adam Dunn. They just figured it would happen sooner.
Peavy pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning, Dunn hit his 14th homer and the White Sox beat the crosstown Cubs 6-0 on Sunday to complete the weekend sweep.
Their fourth straight win put them back at .500 (21-21), and two big reasons for that are two players who seemed to be on the decline coming into the season.
Not now, though.
Peavy is dominating again after being limited by injuries in recent years, and Dunn has his stroke back after it abandoned him last season, his first in Chicago.
“I’m not a big thinker, I have an approach each game and I try to stick with it,” Dunn said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
These days, it’s working. And Dunn got plenty of help Sunday.
Gordon Beckham and Tyler Flowers also went deep as the White Sox matched their longest win streak and a season high with three homers. Not bad, considering Paul Konerko sat out his second in a row after being hit near his left eye by a pitch on Friday.
“If we can keep going on the right track with the guys swinging the bats the way they have the last few days, we should be able to play a little more consistent,” Peavy said.
For the Cubs, meanwhile, the misery continued. They dropped their sixth straight to match their longest skid this season, and they never regrouped once the White Sox started knocking the ball out of the park.
Back-to-back homers by Beckham and Dunn leading off the fourth gave them a 2-0 lead. Flowers made it 3-0 with a drive to start the fifth off Paul Maholm (4-3), giving the White Sox three homers for the second straight game and Peavy (5-1) all the support he needed.
The right-hander struck out seven and walked two over 6 1-3 innings even though the wind was blowing out. He helped chase Maholm during a two-run seventh, grounding into a force and scoring on a sacrifice fly, and he left to cheers with a runner on first after retiring Ian Stewart on a fly to right in the bottom half.
“We had opportunities to score a lot of runs with the wind today,” the Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano said after watching the Cubs leave the bases loaded in the fourth and eighth. “Sometimes, we see a flag like that and we’re not (concentrating). … We see the wind and we forget that we have to hit the ball first.”
It was a charged weekend in Chicago, with Kerry Wood retiring and Konerko getting hit in the face, not to mention the protests in the city surrounding the NATO Summit.
There was heightened security outside Wrigley Field. Inside, it was more of the same.
Peavy shook off a rough outing against Detroit and got back to dominating. The Cubs, on the other hand, could be in for some lineup changes.
“We need some production,” manager Dale Sveum said. “The bottom line is two months into the season, we have to start producing or we’re going to have to start making some changes.”
Maholm got hit hard, allowing five runs and nine hits over 6 1-3 innings after going 4-0 in his previous five starts.
He was sailing along until Beckham lined the first pitch of the fourth to the street beyond the left-field bleachers for his fourth homer. Dunn followed with a drive to center on a 2-2 pitch for his second home run in as many games and 43rd against the Cubs. Among active players, only Albert Pujols has more with 53.
“We’ve got a good team. I think everyone knows that,” Beckham said.
Notes: Although the team has not announced his signing, manager Robin Ventura said veteran INF Orlando Hudson is on his way and that 3B Brent Morel is likely headed to the disabled list because of lower back soreness. A four-time Gold Glove second baseman, Hudson was waived Thursday by San Diego. He will probably see time at third. … Gavin Floyd is scheduled to start Tuesday, with P.J. Walters going for the Twins. … Matt Garza starts Monday for the Cubs against Houston, with Bud Norris taking the mound for the Astros. … Sveum said the Cubs will soon discuss calling up Anthony Rizzo from the minors. It’s not hard to see why, considering he’s batting .353 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs for Triple-A Iowa. “That’s definitely going to be talked about,” Sveum said. “He’s done everything he can down there, but when you bring somebody up like that he’s got to play every day so that’s the million dollar question. How do we get him playing time?” … RHP Carlos Marmol (strained right hamstring) and C Steve Clevenger (right oblique) start rehab assignments in Iowa on Monday.
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