Cubs Pound Pirates, White Sox Win

By ESPN

Jason Heyward is getting tired of talking about his rebuilt swing. Considering what the Chicago Cubs center fielder is doing at the plate these days, the conversation will soon flip from his new-look swing to the results.

Heyward hit his third home run in four days, a sizzling line drive to right-center off Pittsburgh's Chad Kuhl in the first inning to set the tone in a lopsided 14-3 victory for the suddenly hot Cubs on Monday night. Heyward added an RBI on a groundout during Chicago's five-run second inning as the defending World Series champions won for the fifth time in six games.

A year after he hit just .230 while managing just seven home runs and 49 RBI, Heyward is at .294 with three home runs and 16 RBI in 18 games so far in 2017.

"I've been there before," Heyward said. "Had a down year before, didn't go exactly how I wanted. Had to put some work in and come back. It's great to see. It's not over. I'm not looking at it that way."

Addison Russell had a career-high four hits for the Cubs, who set a season-high total for runs and tied their season-high total with 17 hits. A little over two years after going 0-5 in his major league debut at PNC Park, Russell singled four times while spraying the ball to all fields.

"I just put it in play and see where it goes," Russell said. "It's working out. Seems like a pretty easy approach."

Ben Zobrist added three RBI for Chicago. Anthony Rizzo had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant and Miguel Montero all had two hits apiece. The Cubs are starting to get it going after a sluggish start, averaging 8.8 runs during their recent surge to first in the NL Central. It has helped take some of the pressure off a pitching staff that is struggling to get any sort of consistency from its starters.

"Some pieces are changed around but all in all if I'm producing, have Schwarbs here, him settled in for a whole year, there's a lot of good things that can come from it," Heyward said.

Chicago scored four runs with two outs in the first inning off Chad Kuhl (1-2) and added five more in the second to give Brett Anderson (2-0) all the breathing room he would need.

Anderson struggled at times with his command, walking six in six innings while striking out three and allowed three runs, one earned. Though Chicago manager Joe Maddon said he was "encouraged" by what he saw from Anderson, Anderson didn't exactly agree.

"I'd like to have a start where I don't have to battle, to grind, do all the things of that nature," Anderson said.

White Sox 12, Royals 1

Matt Davidson has made the most of his 38 at-bats so far.

He leads the White Sox in home runs with four, and his 14 RBI ties him for tops on the team. About the only thing he hasn't done is crack the everyday lineup, which is why Chicago manager Rick Renteria was asked -- again -- after a 12-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night what the 26-year-old has to do to earn more playing time.

"He doesn't have to do anything more than what he's doing right now," Renteria said. "Fortunately for us, every time he gets in there, he seems to do something pretty impactful for us as a team."

Davidson had two hits and three RBI in an eight-run sixth, Chicago's highest-scoring inning in five years. The White Sox DH set a career high with three hits and tied his single-game best with four RBI.

Miguel Gonzalez (3-0) lowered his ERA to 2.00, allowing an unearned run and two hits in eight innings.

Melky Cabrera, Todd Frazier and Tyler Saladino drove in two runs each for the White Sox, who outhit the Royals 15-2. Chicago put together its high-scoring inning since a nine-run fifth against Texas on July 3, 2012.

The Royals have lost five straight and scored a major league-low 47 runs.

"We got two hits," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "Not much going on right now. Of course, (the players) are frustrated. Until we get through it ... You're trying to keep them from not getting frustrated to the point where it takes longer to get out of something like this. But, yeah, they're frustrated with it."

Jason Vargas (3-1) gave up four runs -- three earned -- and seven hits in five innings. His ERA rose from a big league-best 0.44 to 1.40.

Davidson, who didn't start the previous four games, put Chicago ahead in the second with his fourth homer of the season, a solo drive.

Frazier booted Whit Merrifield's two-out grounder to third for an error in the third and scored on Mike Moustakas' double just in front of a diving Avisail Garcia in right.

Tim Anderson reached second on a throwing error by Moustakas at third base in the bottom half, stole third and scored the go-ahead run on Jose Abreu's single. Cabrera's two-run single boosted the lead to 4-1 in the fifth, and Davidson sparked the big sixth with an RBI double against Peter Moylan, then capped the scoring with a two-run single off Travis Wood.

Davidson, who's batting .368, would love more playing time but is happy in his part-time role for now in his first extended major league experience.

"It's a whole lot better being here than in (Triple-A) Charlotte, so I'm enjoying every single day," he said. "Obviously, I want to play, but being in Chicago and being around these guys is a dream come true."

Monday, April 24 Scoreboard

Chicago Cubs 14, Pittsburgh 3

Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 3

Milwaukee 11, Cincinnati 7

Minnesota 3, Texas 2

Chicago White Sox 12, Kansas City 1

Colorado 8, Washington 4

Arizona 7, San Diego 6

Los Angeles Angels 2, Toronto 1

San Francisco 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Tuesday, April 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Houston at Cleveland, 5:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Miami at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

New York Yankees at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Seattle at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Atlanta at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 6:40 p.m.

Minnesota at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Toronto at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Washington at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

San Diego at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Oakland at Los Angeles Angels, 9:07 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.