Crow-Armstrong drives in 6 as the Cubs pound the White Sox 13-3 at a windy Wrigley Field

CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong homered and drove in a career-high six runs, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox 13-3 on Friday in the first meeting of the season between the crosstown rivals.

Seiya Suzuki had two hits and two RBIs for the NL Central-leading Cubs on a warm and windy afternoon at Wrigley Field. Nico Hoerner scored three times, and Cade Horton (2-0) pitched five innings of three-run ball in his first career start.

The Cubs earned their sixth consecutive win against the White Sox, matching a franchise record for the series.

Miguel Vargas went deep twice for the White Sox in his first career multihomer game. He also matched a career high with four hits.

Vargas connected for a two-run drive in the first and a solo drive in the third. But the Cubs went ahead to stay with six runs in the second against Shane Smith (1-3).

With one out and runners on second and third, Michael Busch used a nifty slide to score on Moisés Ballesteros' chopper to first baseman Andrew Vaughn. Hoerner then hit a grounder to shortstop Chase Meidroth, who made a strong throw to the plate that was dropped by catcher Matt Thaiss for an error.

After Jon Berti struck out looking, Crow-Armstrong hit a three-run drive to right for his 12th homer. Suzuki tacked on an RBI double for a 6-2 lead.

Smith was charged with one earned run and seven hits in five innings. The rookie right-hander struck out five and walked one.

Crow-Armstrong also drove in Hoerner with a wind-aided single in the sixth, and then singled home two more runs in the seventh for a 10-3 lead.

Ballesteros hit an RBI single in the eighth for his first hit in his second major league game.

Smith has surrendered two homers in 48 1/3 innings in his first big league season. He allowed a three-run shot by Boston's Rafael Devers on April 19.

White Sox right-hander Sean Burke (2-4, 4.15 ERA) and Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd (3-2, 2.78 ERA) take the mound on Saturday.

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Chicago White Sox's Miguel Vargas rounds third base after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs starter Cade Horton delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox Friday, May 16, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago White Sox starter Shane Smith delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs Friday, May 16, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Moises Ballesteros watches his fielder's choice RBI during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Chicago Cubs' Michael Busch left, slides into home plate safely as Chicago White Sox catcher Matt Thaiss (29) attempts to apply the tag during the second inning of a baseball game Friday, May 16, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — With just a few hundred people in the community, it was never particularly easy being Jewish in Mississippi's capital city, but members of Beth Israel Congregation took a special pride in keeping their traditions alive in the heart of the Deep South.

An arson fire over the weekend that badly damaged the historic synagogue's library and administrative offices made it much harder and harkened back to an era more than a half-century earlier when the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Jackson, Mississippi, synagogue because of its rabbi's support for civil rights.

Authorities early Monday hadn't publicly named a suspect, who was in custody, but the FBI promised to release more information later in the day. Yellow police tape on Monday blocked off the entrances to the synagogue building, which was surrounded by broken glass and soot. Bouquets of flowers were laid on the ground at the building's entrance — including one with a note that said, “I'm so very sorry.”

The congregation's president, Zach Shemper, vowed to rebuild the synagogue and said several churches had offered their spaces for worship during the rebuilding process.

“As Jackson’s only synagogue, Beth Israel is a beloved institution, and it is the fellowship of our neighbors and extended community that will see us through,” Shemper said.

With the exception of the cemetery, every aspect of Jewish life in Jackson was under Beth Israel's roof. The midcentury modern building not only housed the congregation but also the Jewish Federation, a nonprofit provider of social services and philanthropy that is the hub of Jewish institutional life in most U.S. cities. The building also was home to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which provides resources to Jewish communities in 13 southern states. A Holocaust memorial was outdoors behind the synagogue building.

Because Jewish children throughout the South have attended summer camp for decades in Utica, Mississippi, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Jackson, many retain a fond connection to the state and its Jewish community.

“Jackson is the capital city, and that synagogue is the capital synagogue in Mississippi,” said Rabbi Gary Zola, a historian of American Jewry who taught at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. “I would call it the flagship, though when we talk about places like New York and Los Angeles, it probably seems like Hicksville.”

The congregation was so committed to maintaining Jewish life in Jackson that, when its fulltime rabbi departed recently, congregants decided to pay for the multiyear rabbinic schooling of its cantorial soloist, Benjamin Russell, so that Beth Israel could maintain a fulltime, seminary-trained religious leader.

Because of the tiny size of Jackson's Jewish community, many congregants had interfaith marriages but still regularly attended Friday night services with their spouses in a commitment to their faith.

Beth Israel as a congregation was founded in 1860 and acquired its first property where it built Mississippi's first synagogue after the Civil War. In 1967, the synagogue moved to its current location where it was bombed by local Ku Klux Klan members not long after relocating. Two months after that, the home of the synagogue's leader, Rabbi Perry Nussbaum, was bombed because of his outspoken opposition to segregation and racism.

At a time when opposition to racial segregation could be dangerous in the Deep South, many Beth Israel congregants hoped the rabbi would just stay quiet, but Nussbaum was unshakable in believing he was doing the right thing by supporting civil rights, Zola said.

“He had this strong, strong sense of justice,” Zola said. “He was incapable of going along to get along.”

This weekend's fire ripped through the Beth Israel Congregation shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday, authorities said. No congregants or firefighters were injured in the blaze. Firefighters arrived to find flames billowing out of windows and all doors to the synagogue locked, according to the fire department.

One Torah that survived the Holocaust was behind glass and was not damaged in the fire, according to the congregation. Five Torahs — the sacred scrolls with the text of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible — located inside the sanctuary were being assessed for smoke damage. Two Torahs inside the library, where the most severe damage was done, were destroyed, according to a synagogue representative.

Schneider reported from Orlando, Fla. Follow him on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

FILE - This Nov. 2, 2018 photo shows an armed Hinds County Sheriff's deputy outside of the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, file)