Cubs hold on to lead for crosstown series win over White Sox

Pete Crow-Armstrong went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Ben Brown pitched five strong innings to lift the visiting Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

An early spurt staked the Cubs to a 2-1 lead before they held on to take two of three in the crosstown series.

Daniel Palencia worked around a hit-by-pitch with two outs in the ninth inning to earn his 14th save.

White Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi reached reliever Ryan Brasier for a three-run home run in the eighth inning, his second homer of the game, to bring the White Sox within the final margin.

Ian Happ scored the deciding run in the top half when White Sox third baseman Colson Montgomery was called for obstruction in a rundown between home and third. It was one of three White Sox errors in the game.

The Cubs scored a pair of first-inning runs against opener Grant Taylor, who struck out Michael Busch to begin the game before encountering trouble. Crow-Armstrong punctuated the rally with a two-run double that followed a double and walk.

Benintendi cut the deficit in half with a solo home run against Brown in the bottom of the inning. Brown (5-7) regrouped from a rough relief outing Tuesday, his first major league appearance since June 23. He spaced one run and three hits in five innings with zero walks and four strikeouts.

Right-hander Sean Burke kept the White Sox afloat with 4 2/3 innings of two-run, five hit relief. Burke retired eight straight Cubs during one stretch while matching a career high with eight strikeouts against just one walk.

Burke allowed the leadoff man to reach just once, and it hurt him. Carson Kelly led off the sixth with a single and scored on Nico Hoerner's two-out RBI single. Matt Shaw extended his hitting streak to nine games with a run-scoring double one batter later.

Taylor (0-2) allowed two runs and two hits in one inning. He walked one and struck out two.

Luis Robert Jr. returned to the White Sox lineup after missing the past two games with adductor soreness. Robert Jr. went 0-for-3 as his nine-game hitting streak ended.