Last weekend, the Yankees had a harrowing weekend at the hands of their rivals, the Boston Red Sox. They lost the first three games of that series, and although they salvaged the series finale, the vibes had crashed back to a considerable low. A primary problem in that series was the offense, as the Yankees only scored four runs across the three losses in that series. While they put up seven in the fourth game, it was an overall disappointing series for one of the most talented offenses in baseball.
A week against the dregs of the league was just what the doctor ordered after that rough series. After smacking around the Nationals to start the week, the Yankees’ offense put up 10 runs on 12 hits and three homers to kick off this four-game set on the south side of Chicago, taking the series opener by a score of 10-4 over the White Sox despite an early scare.
The Yankees got off to a good start in this one. After two strikeouts by Davis Martin to start the day, he walked Aaron Judge before serving up a cookie to Cody Bellinger, who obliterated his 26th home run of the season to open the scoring, 2-0 in the first.Masthead
The offense went back to work in the second. Jazz Chisholm Jr. smashed a no-doubter to right field for his 26th home run of the season to lead off the frame and make it 3-0. Anthony Volpe reached base for the first time in what seems like forever with two out on an E4, and Trent Grisham worked a walk to set up a scorching hot Ben Rice, who ripped an RBI single to get the lead up to 4-0.
It had the feel of another low-stress game, but things flipped quickly. Volpe committed a brutal error to start the inning, and Warren lost the strike zone against the bottom of the order. After striking out Mike Tauchman to inch closer to getting out of bases-loaded jam, he fell behind Miguel Vargas and grooved a 2-0 sinker that got obliterated for a game-tying grand slam. Just like that, it’s a 4-4 ballgame.
Martin walked Bellinger to start the third and looked to be on the ropes, only for a seemingly poorly executed hit-and-run to lead to a pop-fly double play. Thus, after throwing 60 pitches to get the first six outs, Martin needed just 11 to get the next three. Warren settled down in the third, working around a one-out single.
The Yankees got to the bullpen in the fourth, when Volpe finally cracked a brutal 0-for-25 with a double down the left field line to chase Martin. Tyler Alexander came on to retire Grisham, but it was nice to finally see Volpe get a knock.
The fifth inning was a wild one. Rice managed a leadoff single before a groundball by Judge started the chaos. It was a tough play to make deep at third by Curtis Mead, but he almost made it until Judge ran straight through the wrist of Vargas. He crumpled to the ground in pain as the ball skipped away, where Rice would take advantage by scampering home to retake the lead. Just 2.5 innings after a game-tying grand slam, Vargas was pulled from the game due to a gruesome injury.
On the very next pitch, Bellinger appeared to have blasted his second home run of the day, but had to settle for a double after a terrific effort by the former Yankee Tauchman, as Tauchman failed to catch the ball but kept it in the park. Then, Stanton smoked a 105.9 mph groundball that was snared by Lenyn Sosa, which seemed to be good enough for another run until Judge hesitated on third base and got caught in a rundown that led to Bellinger getting tagged out. A Jazz sac fly got the sixth run in, but the Yankees could’ve definitely had more.
Warren wrapped up his outing in the fifth, working around a Kyle Teel single and a frustrating walk to Sosa, where he was squeezed. He finished with zero earned runs allowed in five innings, due to the Volpe error in the second. It’s fair to say this wasn’t a representative outing to the ERA, but Warren has underperformed his peripherals all season so he’ll take it.
After another shutout inning by Alexander in relief, Fernando Cruz came on and looked sharper than he did on Tuesday, aided by a pair of nifty plays at short by Volpe. Wikelman Gonzalez came on for the White Sox and worked around a leadoff walk to Judge to put up a zero.
Luke Weaver got the ball for the bottom of the seventh and worked a nice, tidy 1-2-3 inning, as the game was finally calming down after the whirlwind in the first few innings. Gonzalez stayed on for the eighth and was immediately hurt by his defense, as Mead committed his second error of the day on a groundball by Paul Goldschmidt. The error proved costly, as Ryan McMahon smoked a double into the gap before Volpe lifted a sac fly to center field to add an insurance run. After the most brutal two weeks of his career, Volpe doubled, singled, hit a sac fly, and looked crisp on defense after his clumsy error in the second. Let’s hope he can use this as a springboard.
A pitching change brought in Cam Booser, who could not stop the bleeding, coughing up a two-run tank to Grisham for his 27th of the year to make it 9-4 Yankees, properly blowing it open.
Devin Williams, who was probably coming in to pitch in higher leverage before the three-run eighth, looked as sharp as he has all season in the bottom half, striking out the side. Bellinger led off the ninth with a single off of Steven Wilson, Chisholm followed with one of his own, and Goldschmidt lifted a sac fly to make it 10-4. Another stolen base for Chisholm in the middle of that brings him closer to a 30/30 season, as he now has 26 home runs and 24 stolen bases.
Mark Leiter Jr. got the bottom of the ninth and ensured no drama, striking out a batter in a 1-2-3 ninth. The Yankees’ bullpen retired all 12 batters they faced with seven strikeouts and locked down a 10-4 win. Warren picks up his eighth win of the season. It’s been against a couple of last-place teams, but this offense once again looks top of the line. The Yankees will look to win six in a row for the first time this season tomorrow night, as Carlos Rodón faces off against old friend Yoendrys Gomez at 7:40 pm EDT on YES.
