Yankees' power surge continues in Chicago, club cruises to fifth straight win
Yankees' Trent Grisham watches his two-run home run fly during the eighth inning against the White Sox on Thursday night in Chicago. Credit: AP/Nam Y. Huh
CHICAGO — The Yankees on Thursday night weren’t the well-oiled machine they were earlier in the week during a three-game sweep of the lowly Nationals.
But against the even more lowly White Sox, they didn’t have to be.
Getting home runs early from Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a two-run shot late by Trent Grisham, the Yankees overcame a key error by Anthony Volpe — which led to four unearned runs — and beat the White Sox, 10-4, at Rate Field for their fifth straight victory.
The Yankees (74-60) have won 12 of their last 16 games and are 14 games over .500 for the first time since June 15 (42-28). They have gone 14-6 since the 18-29 slump that dropped them to 60-54.
They stayed a half-game behind the Red Sox for the AL’s top wild-card spot and pulled within four games of the AL East-leading Blue Jays, who were off Thursday (the Red Sox beat the Orioles earlier in the day).
The Yankees have hit 33 home runs in their last 10 games, tying the MLB record set by the 1977 Red Sox and matched by Atlanta in 2006 and the Dodgers in 2019. They lead the majors in homers with 228. The Dodgers are second with 201.
“Obviously, it’s a really talented team, a really talented lineup,” Bellinger said. “It’s clicking right now and it’s obviously really fun. Just fun to be a part of and we’re looking to keep it rolling.”
Bellinger (No. 26) hit a two-run homer in the first, Chisholm (No. 26) had a solo shot in the second and Grisham (No. 27) ripped a two-run blast in the eighth that gave the Yankees a 9-4 lead. Bellinger had three of the Yankees’ 12 hits.
“Just an outstanding all-around ballplayer having a great year,” Aaron Boone said. Bellinger is 75-for-234 (.321) with 17 homers in his last 58 games.
Volpe, who brought a 1-for-37 slump and an AL-leading 17 errors into the night, committed his 18th error but did go 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. He also made two good plays in the hole in the sixth to help Fernando Cruz throw a 1-2-3 inning.
“It’s obviously frustrating because at the end of the day, you want to get results and help the team, and you’re not doing that,” Volpe — who has been loudly booed lately at Yankee Stadium — said of what his last few weeks have been like. “It’s frustrating, but at the same time, I felt close and in a good spot and I felt like I was taking some good swings. So it’s a balance.”
Will Warren wasn’t bad and nearly escaped the second inning unscathed. After Volpe began the inning with an error, a walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases with one out. Warren struck out Mike Tauchman looking for the second out but allowed a 401-foot grand slam by Miguel Vargas that tied it at 4-4.
Warren (8-6, 4.30) allowed four runs (none earned), five hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out three.
Cruz, Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and Mark Leiter Jr. shut down the White Sox (48-86), who did not get a hit after Kyle Teel’s one-out single in the fifth.
White Sox righthander Davis Martin struck out Grisham and Ben Rice to start the game before walking Aaron Judge (AL-leading 92nd). Bellinger then hammered an 0-and-2 pitch 395 feet to right for a 2-0 lead. He has six homers and 15 RBIs in his last 15 games.
The White Sox put two on in the bottom half when Teel singled hard to right with two outs and Lenyn Sosa followed with a flared single to right that put runners at the corners. Warren stopped things there, getting former Yankee Andrew Benintendi to fly softly to left.
Chisholm led off the second by crushing a 96-mph fastball 382 feet to right to make it 3-0. Martin retired Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan McMahon and looked to be out of the inning when Volpe stung a grounder back up the middle, but Sosa booted it for an error. Volpe stole his 16th base of the season, Grisham walked and Rice banged an RBI single to right that made it 4-0.
Edgar Quero led off the bottom half with a routine grounder that Volpe failed to handle and Vargas’ tying grand slam soon followed.
But Rice led off the fifth with a single and scored on Judge’s infield single to third and subsequent throwing error by third baseman Curtis Mead to make it 5-4. Chisholm’s sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 6-4 and the Yankees coasted from there.
“I think we’re playing baseball like we’re supposed to be playing,” Warren said. “We pitch and play defense and score runs like we’re supposed to, I don’t think there’s anybody that can match up.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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