CHICAGO — As he tried to explain how the Yankees might possibly survive four to six weeks without Cody Bellinger — on top of ongoing, indefinite absences from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — Aaron Boone reached for a cliche.
“It’s going to take all of us,” the manager said a few hours before first pitch.
Trite as it was, the Yankees brought it to fruition, at least for one night, as their hitters picked up their pitching staff and defense for a change.
On a day when Max Fried put the Yankees in an early three-run hole, and the defense threatened to wreak havoc early and late, what had been a scuffling lineup broke out to capture a 9-5 win over the White Sox on Monday night at Rate Field.
Coming off a weekend in which they scored a combined eight runs in three games against the Phillies — putting plenty of stress on their pitchers with little to no margin for error — the Yankees (60-46) used a pair of four-run innings to claim the series opener against the first-place White Sox (55-50) and win for the 10th time in their last 14 games.
“It just shows we’re never going to give up,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr., who bounced back from an early defensive miscue to tally two hits, two RBIs, two runs and two steals. “We’re going out there trying to play every game like Game 7.
Yankees catcher Ali Sanchez (39) rounds the bases after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago White Sox during the eight inning at Rate Field. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. (13) hits a two-run double against the Chicago White Sox during the fourth inning at Rate Field. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
“It’s always good when the team is hitting and bringing in runs and everybody’s up and down the lineup doing their thing. It just makes baseball a lot more fun and feels a lot more loose.”
An offensive attack capped off by Ali Sánchez’s first career home run — a three-run shot in the eighth inning — allowed the Yankees to score more than five runs for only the third time in their last 33 games since back-to-back double-digit outbursts against these White Sox back on June 16-17.
They also had not won a game by more than three runs since July 9, and while Camilo Doval and fielding errors from José Caballero and Anthony Volpe threatened that feat in the ninth inning, David Bednar came in to nail down the final out.
Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried looks on after giving up an RBI single hit by Chicago White Sox’s Colson Montgomery during the first inning of a baseball game in Chicago. AP Photo/Paul Beaty
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“It wasn’t pretty by any means tonight, but a lot of winning things did go on with everyone,” Boone said. “The ’83 White Sox had a slogan, ‘Winning Ugly.’ But they all count. … We know we’ve got to play cleaner than that, but a really gritty effort by a lot of different people in that room.”
Despite some shoddy defense, the Yankees delivered in the clutch when they were still clinging to a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning as Colson Montgomery tried to score all the way from first on a two-out double from Chase Meidroth. But left fielder Max Schuemann — starting a second straight game for Bellinger, who may be out until September with a Grade 2 hamstring strain — started a strong relay to Volpe and Sánchez to nail Montgomery at the plate to end the frame.
The Yankees then broke the game open in the next halfinning, which began with a Jasson Domínguez infield single, a Volpe single and a Chisholm bunt single that scored Domínguez on a throwing error. Sánchez delivered the big blow with a three-run blast off lefty Sean Newcomb that made it a 9-4 lead.
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“Especially getting the win for the team, that’s special for me,” Sánchez said.
Still working on a limited pitch count in his second start back from the injured list — after he was incredibly sharp in five innings on Wednesday — Fried lasted just three innings and 66 pitches Monday after giving up three runs in a 32-pitch first. He said he felt “great” physically but wished he was sharper, though he did not receive much help from his defense, including Chisholm mishandling a throw from Schuemann that could have gotten the first out.
But Chisholm later responded with his bat, belting a two-run double that tied the game in the fourth inning against lefty reliever Chris Murphy. Spencer Jones followed with an RBI groundout for the 4-3 lead, and after the White Sox got the run back off Tim Hill in the fifth, Ben Rice put the Yankees ahead for good with an RBI single in the seventh.
“It’s just, anything to do to win,” Boone said. “It’s been hard for us, but we’ve also been winning a lot doing it. That’s a credit to those guys and their perseverance. A lot of guys got up off the mat today and did some really good things.”
