MESA, Ariz. – When Cubs prospect Chesny Young struck out to end the ninth inning Monday, leaving Munenori Kawasaki at third base, the Cubs and White Sox were tied 4-4.
And that’s where it ended as the teams packed up and headed home with the rain starting at Sloan Park.
It was Sox manager Rick Renteria’s first game managing against the team that fired him to hire Joe Maddon, a back-and-forth game played before a sellout crowd.
The Sox tied it in the eighth on a one-out grounder to second by Willy Garcia, driving home Peter Bourjos from third.
Young, a former minor-league batting champ, drove a two-out, two-run single to center field off right-hander Tommy Kahnle to put the Cubs in the lead, 4-3, in the bottom of the seventh.
For the Cubs, starting pitcher Brett Anderson pitched around a leadoff single for a scoreless inning in his Cubs debut and said he felt strong and ready to get into an every-fifth-day routine to prepare for the season.
Cubs All-Star shortstop Addison Russell hit his first homer of the spring, a long solo shot to left in the second inning off Sox starter Lucas Giolito, and the Cubs led until the fifth.
That’s when Sox first baseman Jose Abreu’s two-out, two-run homer in the fifth inning off minor-leaguer Brad Markey, capping a three-run inning that put the Sox ahead 3-2.