Aaron Judge hit his major-league-leading 11th homer and drove in two runs in a seven-run eighth inning with a tiebreaking infield single, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a pair of early two-run homers as the New York Yankees defeated the host Chicago White Sox 15-7 on Thursday.
The Yankees won their fourth straight and their 16th in 18 games thanks to their biggest inning of the season.
Joe Kelly (0-1) was one strike away from keeping the game tied when he walked pinch hitter Gleyber Torres in the eighth.
After Kelly issued his third straight walk by putting DJ LeMahieu on to load the bases, Judge chopped a 1-1 curveball to second baseman Leury Garcia, who fielded the ball on the shortstop side, giving Judge enough time to beat the throw and allowing the Yankees to take 9-7 lead when Torres raced through third base coach Luis Rojas’ stop sign.
Stanton, who drove in a career-high six runs, homered in the first and third off Dylan Cease and then followed up Judge’s hit and a walk to Anthony Rizzo with a two-run, bases-loaded single off Tanner Banks in the eighth. Josh Donaldson capped the inning with a three-run homer.
Judge’s hustle and Kelly’s inability to command the strike zone occurred after Yoan Moncada hit a tying three-run homer with nobody out in the seventh off Jonathan Loaisiga (1-1), who kept the game tied by getting three groundouts.
Judge connected in the seventh against Ryan Burr for a 456-foot drive into the left field bleachers for a 7-4 lead and added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Rizzo hit an RBI triple ahead of Stanton’s second homer, and LeMahieu contributed an RBI double an inning after Stanton’s second homer.
AJ Pollock hit an RBI double and Garcia hit a two-run single in the second as Chicago lost for just the third time in 10 games. The White Sox also scored when Yankees starter Luis Gil threw a wild pitch before striking out Anderson to end the fourth.
Cease allowed six runs and six hits in four innings. He tied his career high with 11 strikeouts.
Gil allowed four runs on five hits in four innings in his seventh career start. He struck out five and walked two after pitching to a 9.53 ERA with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre this season.
–Field Level Media
