Yankees Continue Their Great Stretch as They Take Two of Three From the White Sox
The New York Yankees headed to Chicago to face off against the White Sox in a four game set. Luis Gil made his first start of the season in game one of this series. The Yankees got off to an early lead with a Giancarlo Stanton two run homer. The White Sox answered back in the second with an AJ Pollock RBI double and a two run single from Leury Garcia to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead. The Yankees retaliated in the third when Anthony Rizzo hit a game tying triple, and Giancarlo Stanton hit his second homer of the night to take a 5-3 lead. The Yanks added to their lead in the fourth with a DJ Lemahieu RBI double to make it 6-3. The Yankees got into a jam in the fourth when Luis Gil loaded the bases. The White Sox got another run on a Luis Gil wild pitch in the fourth to make it a 6-4 game. Gil did manage to escape the inning by only allowing that one run. Gil’s night was done after four innings with five strikeouts, two walks, and four earned runs. Gil struggled in this one, but thankfully the Yankees gave him plenty of run support. Miguel Castro and Lucas Luetge pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth innings. Aaron Judge gave the Yankees an insurance run in the seventh with an absolute bomb for a solo home run to make it 7-4. Jonathan Loaisiga came on for the bottom of the seventh, and he struggled. Loaisiga has not been the same pitcher of late. Loaisiga gave up a game tying home run to Yoan Moncada.
The game was now tied 7-7 heading into the eighth inning. In the eighth Aaron Judge beat out an infield single that scored two runs thanks to Gleyber Torres’s excellent baserunning. That infield single gave the Yankees a 9-7 lead. The Yankees would get two more runs on a Giancarlo Stanton RBI single. Josh Donaldson put a nail in the coffin with a three run bomb to give the Yankees a 14-7 lead. Chad Green threw the eighth inning. The Yankees added another run in the top of the ninth from an Aaron Judge sac fly to make it 15-7. Chad Green then came back out for the ninth and closed the game out for the Yanks. This big 15-7 got the Yankees off to a good start in the four game set in Chicago.
Gerrit Cole took the mound in game two of the four game set against the White Sox. The Yankees gave him some early runs with a Giancarlo Stanton two run homer in the first. Aaron Hicks made it 3-0 with an RBI double in the second. Josh Donaldson made it 5-0 with an RBI double of his own. In the fourth inning Aaron Judge got in on the fun with a solo homer to make it 6-0. The White Sox got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Gerrit Cole balked to score a run. Joey Gallo hit a solo home run in the fifth to make it 7-1. In the bottom of the sixth Gavin Sheets hit a two run homer to make it 7-3. Cole’s night would end after 6.1 innings with nine strikeouts and three earned runs.
Cole turned in yet another great outing, and he looks like the dominant ace that we’re used to seeing. Mike King then came on in relief and finished the seventh inning. King threw a scoreless eighth inning as well. In the top of the ninth Josh Donaldson gave the Yankees some security with a two run homer to make it 9-3. Later that inning Isiah Kiner - Falefa hit a sac fly to make it 10-3. The Yankees went back to King to close it out. The Yankees took game two of the four game set by a score of 10-3.
Jordan Montgomery toed the slab in the game three of the four game set against the White Sox. The White Sox got off to an early lead with a Luis Robert RBI single in the first to make it 1-0. In the third Yoan Moncada hit a solo homer to make it 2-0. Monty battled in this one. He did not have his best stuff, and he had to grind through this one. He ended up throwing 4.1 innings while allowing two earned runs. Monty fought through this outing and still gave the Yankees a chance to win, but The Yankees were being shut out by Dallas Keuchel. After Monty, Clarke Schmidt came on and threw 2.2 shutout innings. The Yanks would not get on the board until Giancarlo Stanton hit an RBI single in the eighth to make it 2-1. Clay Holmes came on and threw a scoreless eighth inning. In the top of the ninth the Yankees tied up the game with a Kyle Higashioka sac fly, but IKF was thrown out at third to end the inning on that same play. The Yankees turned to Aroldis Chapman to keep it a tie ballgame in the ninth. Chapman could not find the zone. He gave up a base hit and then a walk. Luis Robert stepped to the plate with runners on first and second, and he delivered a walk off single. The Yankees dropped this one by a score of 3-2.
Nestor Cortes Jr took the bump in the final game of the four game set against the white sox in Chicago. The Yankees got on the board in a very unconventional second inning. The Yanks took a 3-0 lead on an Aaron Hicks RBI walk, a DJ Lemahieu RBI walk, and Jose Trevino scored on a wild pitch. That 3-0 lead would prove to be more than enough for Cortes. He was absolutely electric in this one. He completely dominated the White Sox lineup. Cortes headed into the eighth inning after allowing only two hits in seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts, but Adam Engel would get to Cortes for a solo shot to make it 3-1 in the eighth. Nevertheless Cortes was spectacular yet again in this one. He threw eighth innings while only allowing one earned run on three hits with zero walks and seven strikeouts. Nestor’s excellence continued to the surprise of nobody.
The Yankees would tack on some crucial insurance runs in the top of the ninth when Joey Gallo smoked a two run homer to make it 5-1. Clay Holmes then came on and recorded the save. The Yankees managed to score five runs on two hits and pick up a 5-1 win. The Yankees took three out of four from the White Sox as they continued to roll. The Yankees will look to continue their success as they head to Baltimore to take on the Orioles in a four game set.
By: Riley Briggs