Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs, Nestor Cortes earned his first win in over a month, and the New York Yankees defeated the Chicago White Sox 4-2 on Friday night, extending their winning streak to five games.
Alex Verdugo and Stanton hit back-to-back RBI doubles off starter Mike Clevinger in the fourth inning, giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
New York (31-15) matched its longest winning streak of the season and has now won 11 of its last 13 games, reaching 16 games above .500 for the first time since finishing the 2022 season with a 99-63 record. “Once we got ahead, we stayed ahead,” Stanton commented.
Caleb Ferguson pitched out of a jam in the eighth inning to maintain the Yankees’ two-run lead. Clay Holmes, greeted by the Yankee Stadium light show, a feature Judge said his teammates pushed for, entered the game in the ninth and worked a hitless inning for his AL-leading 13th save of the season. The closer hasn’t allowed an earned run in 19 appearances this year.
Andrew Vaughn drove in two runs with singles, and leadoff hitter Tommy Pham collected three hits for the White Sox (14-31) in the series opener between the top and bottom teams in the American League.
With a runner on base, Pham struck out looking to end the game. Chicago had won two consecutive games and six of its last eight. “We played well, but they simply outperformed us,” Pham remarked.
Both teams were coming off shutout victories. Cortes (2-4) had been the only weak spot in the Yankees’ recent run of solid starting pitching, but the left-hander delivered a strong performance this time. He struck out six batters and didn’t allow an earned run in seven innings, earning his first win since April 8 against Miami.
