CHICAGO (AP) – The Cubs played catch up Friday, taking advantage of Toby Hall’s first game behind the plate this season to beat the White Sox 6-3 before a loud and emotional crowd at Wrigley Field.

A day after a demoralizing defeat for the Cubs, Angel Pagan and a passed ball let them rally in the opener of the interleague series between Chicago rivals.

White Sox starter Mark Buehrle was sailing along in the seventh inning with a 3-1 lead. He retired the first two batters, but after walking pinch-hitter Henry Blanco and giving up a single to Ryan Theriot, he was replaced by Mike MacDougal (1-1).

Angel Pagan hit MacDougal’s first pitch into the right-field corner for a triple to tie the game.

Hall, a backup who was activated from the disabled list on Thursday, then missed MacDougal’s low outside pitch for a passed ball as Pagan raced home with the go-ahead run.

Hall, who’d dislocated his shoulder playing first base in spring training, had two hits starting in place of A.J. Pierzynski, but he also had two errors and the costly passed ball.

His second error helped the Cubs score two more in the eighth. After Michael Barrett and Mark DeRosa singled, Hall’s low throw to second advanced them a base. Pinch-hitter Cliff Floyd and Theriot then hit RBI grounders for a 6-3 lead.

It was the first taste of White Sox-Cubs for Cubs manager Lou Piniella. The neighborhood park on the city’s north side was hopping more than normal with a playoff-like atmosphere and a wild crowd of 40,874 filled with fans for both teams who cheered on nearly every batted ball or missed swing.

Piniella and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen greeted one another along the third-base line before the game with a big hug. The Cubs were coming off a deflating 6-5 loss to the Mets, who won Thursday’s game with five ninth-inning runs.

Ryan Dempster, who took the loss on Thursday, pitched the ninth for his ninth save in 10 chances.

The White Sox scored in the second inning on a sunny 59-degree day without a cloud in the sky. Paul Konerko, hitting just .188, singled to left center, Tadahito Iguchi worked a walk and after a wild pitch from Lilly, Juan Uribe hit a sacrifice fly.

Michael Barrett, who punched White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski in the face after he’d been run over at the plate last season to set off a melee at U.S. Cellular Field, homered off Buehrle to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.

Jermaine Dye homered off Ted Lilly (4-2) to put the White Sox ahead 2-1 in the third. Lilly gave up six hits and three runs in seven innings.

The Cubs had a rally going in the sixth after Pagan singled and raced to third as Aramis Ramirez singled to shallow right. But when Barrett hit a liner to Dye in medium right, Pagan held third, not knowing that Dye’s strong throw would bounce off Hall for an error and allow Ramirez to reach second. Buehrle then retired Mark DeRosa on a grounder.

The White Sox went up 3-1 in the seventh when Hall doubled leading off. And after two strikeouts, Darin Erstad lined a ball to left that Alfonso Soriano couldn’t reach for a double that easily scored Hall.