Chicago Fire FC (9-13-8, 35 points) defeated Inter Miami CF (10-13-6, 36 points) 3-1 at SeatGeek Stadium on Sept. 10 as the club celebrated its annual Kick Childhood Cancer match.
Jhon Duran (who's all of 18 years old) tallied his first career MLS brace (scoring two goals in one match) and designated player Xherdan Shaqiri added the game-winning goal as the Fire registered their third straight match without a loss, with four games left to play in the regular season.
The Fire dominated early in the first half, logging nearly 66% of the possession in the opening 15 minutes.
After the game, Shaqiri said, "Yeah, it was important first of all to win because the few games we didn't win, we didn't score. And we play and try to win every game, the last five games now. And every game is like a final because we need it if you want to go to the playoffs."
Chicago will travel to face CF Montreal on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The match will also be televised on WGN-TV and CF97 Live, and transmitted locally in Spanish on TUDN 1200 AM.
The Chicago White Sox (72-68) have picked the right time to surge.
On Sept. 10, Elvis Andrus connected for a three-run homer against the team that cut him last month and the Chicago White Sox got 20 hits, beating the Oakland Athletics (50-90) 10-2 for their fourth straight win, ESPN noted.
The South Siders have now won for the ninth time in 11 games.
The teams conclude their series in California on Sunday, Sept. 11.
At Wrigley Field on Sept. 10, the San Francisco Giants (66-73) ended a five-game slide by defeating the Chicago Cubs (58-81) 5-2.
Here's a sobering stat: Even if the Cubs miraculously won their next 23 games, they can't finish above .500 for the season.
But here's a high point, per ESPN: The late Buck O'Neil, the first Black coach in the majors when he was added to the Cubs staff in 1962, was among three inductees to the team's Hall of Fame on Sept. 10. Former outfielder Jose Cardenal and longtime play-by-play broadcaster Pat Hughes also were inducted.
The teams conclude their series Sunday, Sept. 11.