Juan Soto and friends exploded for four long balls
I hate to say, “I told you so,” but I did. Go ahead and look back at the gamethread. It was right there in black and white. Yep, Brad Keller stunk, and the Yankees, with their unstoppable power, clubbed their way to victory and won their sixth straight contest.
It was kind of fun for a half-inning, though, as the White Sox got to rookie Luis Gil early. Tommy Pham — bound and determined to hit his way onto a contender — led off the first with a single. Gavin Sheets followed suit with one of his own, and two outs later, Andrew Benintendi blooped a double to drive Pham home. I hope you enjoyed that run because that was all, folks!
The Yankees promptly answered in their half of the first with two runs: a solo jack by Juan Soto and an RBI double by Giancarlo Stanton. An inning later, New York added two more tallies, including a Jose Trevino 353-foot dinger that snuck into the left field corner.
You get a home run, and you get a home run! There were more and more dingers for everyone in navy pinstripes, as the Yankees kept the round-trippers coming. Stanton blasted a bomb to right-center field in the third, and Soto cranked his second of the day in the fifth, giving the Bronx Bombers a 6-1 lead. That would be way more than they would need to defeat the anemic Chicago offense.
Gil may have been rusty in the first, but he dialed in and only got better as the game progressed. He was absolutely nasty as he struck out a career-high 14 batters and surrendered only four hits and one run over six innings. With his fourth straight win, Gil lowered his ERA to 2.39. As long as these Yankees stay healthy, they will be a tough team for anyone to beat this season.
Brad Keller was utterly awful in the loss. He got the hook with no outs in the fifth after giving up five earned runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts. The bright spot was Michael Soroka, who looked really solid out of the pen, keeping the Yankees off the board for four innings. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh, he struck out White Sox killer Aaron Judge and got Alex Verdugo to pop out. Then, with runners on again in the eighth, he K’d Judge for a second time to end the inning.
Ironically, Soroka was bumped from the rotation last turn by Keller. Providing the ex-Royals factor keeps Keller in the rotation, if Soroka can find a way to embrace the role of long reliever he could make a nice trade piece at the deadline.
This recap would not be complete without a defensive shout-out to Andrew Benintendi, who made a diving grab in the seventh to retire Stanton for the only time today. Seizing those moments when he earns a little bit of that $75 million is important, you know?
The White Sox will try to salvage the finale tomorrow, to avoid getting swept for the seventh time in 2024. Check back here at South Side Sox for all your coverage needs.
White Sox 2024 Record 14-32, worst 46-game start in White Sox history (1⁄2 game ahead the 1948 White Sox) and tied for the 55th-worst start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -94, tied for the 37th-worst 46-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 49-113 (.304)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 6 games behind
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 8 games behind
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 7 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 3 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 11 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season
