Up against one of the game’s premier pitchers, the Cubs couldn’t have drawn up a more perfect start.

The Cubs crushed 4 home runs in the first 2.1 innings off All-Star Garrett Crochet, staking themselves to a big, early lead in the Crosstown Classic. They would need every single run as the White Sox mounted a late rally in a 7-6 victory on Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Ian Happ started it with a leadoff home run to left field — the first leadoff hit Crochet had given up all season. Happ became the third Cub to hit a leadoff home run on the South Side, joining Daniel Murphy (2018) and Alfonso Soriano (twice in 2007).

“It never hurts when Ian Happ leads off the game with a homer and sets the tone like that,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “So I’m sure that freed up everybody else.”

It did — in a big way.

Two batters later, Seiya Suzuki pushed a flare single to the opposite field after a 10-pitch at-bat. Then, Cody Bellinger hit a 2-run home run into the Cubs’ bullpen in right field.

Bellinger’s home run was the first by a lefty off Crochet in his career.

“I mean, I knew it’s tough at-bat, didn’t know the exact numbers,” Bellinger said. “So just kept it simple and really just try and put my swing on it.”

[WATCH: Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger jump start Cubs offense]

An inning later, Crow-Armstrong had a leadoff triple, showcasing his speed, but failed to score. He finished 3-for-4 as he continues his hot offense stretch. Over his last 7 games, he’s slashing .414/.440/.667.

In the 3rd, Bellinger had a 1-out single and scored on Isaac Paredes’ 2nd home run as a Cub, a 406-foot blast to left-center field that put the Cubs up 5-0. Nico Hoerner joined in on the home run parade, hitting a solo shot to left field.  

“I thought we did a really nice job against his cutter,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We did a really good job on that pitch. He’s got an electric fastball and we did a nice job with the offspeed in the zone.”

That was the fourth time this season the Cubs had hit back-to-back home runs and the first since July 14, when Happ and Christopher Morel and Tomás Nido and Pete Crow-Armstrong did so in the same game against the Cardinals.

Crochet’s day was done a batter later after he allowed a single to Dansby Swanson. Swanson would come around to score on a groundout by Miguel Amaya, the 7th earned run allowed by Crochet on the day.

The 4 home runs were the most Crochet had allowed in a game and it was just the second time in his career he’s allowed more than 1 homer.

The White Sox scored 4 runs in the 4th off starter Jameson Taillon and another run in the 5th. They made it a 1-run game on Andrew Benintendi’s 2nd home run of the game. In the 9th, they loaded the bases on Héctor Neris, but the veteran escaped the jam to preserve the victory for the Cubs.

“You’re gonna have games like that and you got to just outlast it and we kept playing well and made some pitches at the end to get a win,” Counsell said.