Judge and Stanton homer to back effective Cortes as streaking Yankees top White Sox 4-2
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton homered, Nestor Cortes won for the first time in 5½ weeks and the New York Yankees beat the White Sox 4-2 on Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
Alex Verdugo and Stanton hit consecutive RBI doubles off starter Mike Clevinger (0-2) in the fourth inning to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. New York (31-15) equaled its longest winning streak this season and has won 11 of 13 overall, moving 16 games above .500 for the first time since finishing 99-63 in 2022.
“Once we got on top, we stayed on top,” Stanton said.
Caleb Ferguson pitched out of an eighth-inning jam to preserve a two-run lead. Clay Holmes entered to his new Yankee Stadium light show — a ballpark feature his teammates pushed for, Judge said — and worked a hitless ninth for his AL-best 13th save. The closer has not allowed an earned run in 19 appearances this year.
Andrew Vaughn had two RBI singles and leadoff batter Tommy Pham finished with three hits for the White Sox (14-31) in a series opener between the top and bottom teams in the American League.
With a runner on, Pham took a called third strike to end it. Chicago had won two in a row and six of eight.
“We played good baseball. They just outplayed us,” Pham said.
Both teams were coming off consecutive shutouts. Cortes (2-4) had been the lone weak link in a run of stingy starting pitching by the Yankees, but the crafty left-hander was on his game this time. He struck out six and didn't allow an earned run in seven innings of five-hit ball for his first win since April 8 against Miami.
New York starters have given up one earned run over 33 innings in the last five games, with each one going at least six innings.
“Their talent is shining through,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So I'm not surprised, but I'm happy to see it.”
Cortes also picked off a runner at second base and threw out another one at third, improving to 5-0 in his career against the White Sox. He was 0-3 in his previous four starts and winless in his past six.
“The last game we lost was the game I pitched in Tampa. So I made sure that today wasn’t the day we lost again,” Cortes said.
New York improved to 35-4 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game, including the playoffs.
A raging-hot Judge also walked three times and scored twice on a perfect night at the plate. He has nine homers in his last 22 games and has reached base safely in 14 straight.
“Just not missing the ball,” he said with a grin. “It's working right now.”
Judge's last seven hits have gone for extra bases — all in his past three games — and he's hitting .465 with six homers, nine doubles, 12 RBI, 13 walks and a 1.093 slugging percentage over his past 13 games.
“It's unreal. You can't get him out,” Stanton said. “He can't hit a single right now. His singles are walks.”