With a major boost from Juan Soto, the New York Yankees evened their road series with the Chicago White Sox and regained the American League East lead with a 4-1 win on Tuesday.
Soto provided the offensive highlights with his first career three-homer game, but an uneven effort from the bullpen nearly erased those heroics and seven shutout innings from Nestor Cortes.
On Wednesday, New York will look to secure a series victory against the struggling White Sox, who have lost 21 of 23 since the All-Star break.
Riding the momentum from Soto’s big night only figures to help the Yankees.
“It’s always great to be locked in, to be ready for every pitch,” Soto said. “You know when you’re locked in and you have a guy like (Aaron) Judge behind you, you’re going to get some pitches. So, it feels really good.”
While Soto delivered his sixth multi-homer game of the season, Judge contributed a pair of hits. Judge enters play Wednesday one home run shy of 300 for his career.
New York’s pennant chase will continue despite the expected absence of third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. The third baseman injured the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow during the Yankees’ 12-2 loss to Chicago on Monday.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team expected to learn more ahead of the game Wednesday based on further analysis of tests and imaging.
“Something there. I’m not going to speak before all the doctors have weighed in on it,” Boone said. “I just know UCL injury, so we’ll see what we have here over the next 24 hours.”
Acquired from the Miami Marlins in a July 27 trade, Chisholm was batting .316 with seven home runs, 11 RBIs and five stolen bases in 14 games for his new team.
The White Sox slugged their way to a rout on Monday, cruising behind a season high in runs and hits (18).
On Tuesday, though, Chicago scored its lone run on an eighth-inning RBI single from Luis Robert Jr. The White Sox loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but were unable to score as Jake Cousins earned his first career save.
The White Sox fell to a major-league-worst 29-92, including 18-43 at home.
White Sox right-hander Davis Martin (0-1, 3.65 ERA) will try to pitch the club to its first series win since June 28-30 against the Colorado Rockies. Martin, who hasn’t faced the Yankees in his career, took a no-decision at Oakland on Aug. 7 after scattering two hits and one walk white striking out four in six scoreless innings.
Martin continues to progress with his stuff and demeanor. The outing was his third since his return from Tommy John surgery.
“The fact you can have some success in the big leagues post-TJ brings a lot of confidence the next week and the week after that,” Martin said. “Just going forward, it’s a really good starting point for me to build off of and go from there.”
Rookie Will Warren (0-1, 11.17 ERA) gets the call for the Yankees in his third career start. Warren is coming off a defeat to the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 7, when he allowed eight runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. He will be opposing the White Sox for the first time.
–Field Level Media