Six different New York Yankees hit home runs during Wednesday’s 11-2 rout of the visiting Washington Nationals.
Four players went deep in the bottom of the third inning alone.
“That was some bangin’ right there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
New York hitters did their share of watchin’, too, seeing 77 pitches in the inning. The Yankees will aim to tote that discipline into Thursday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox to begin a seven-game road trip.
“You kind of get a feel for what their game plan is, what the pitcher’s strengths are, what he’s feeling that day,” said the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who hit his team-leading 41st homer. “It kind of helps you fine-tune your approach when you get up there.”
New York comes to Chicago with victories in four straight games and nine of its past 12 overall. The lone defeats in that span came at the start of last weekend’s four-game series against Boston.
The Yankees trail the Red Sox by a half-game for the first wild-card berth in the American League and are 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.
While the White Sox sport the worst record in the AL, they own 14 series victories compared with eight last season.
Judge knows the Yankees can’t afford to overlook the White Sox, but he’s also sure that isn’t part of their pedigree.
“That’s what makes this team special is guys are going to keep fighting no matter what the score is,” he said.
Chicago will look to regroup for the final four contests of a 10-game homestand. The White Sox took two of three games from the Minnesota Twins and blanked the Kansas City Royals on Monday, but Kansas City scored 17 runs over the final 11 innings of the series.
White Sox rookie catcher/designated hitter Edgar Quero has two multi-hit games in three starts during the homestand. But in a setback, the team placed center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (left hamstring strain) on the 10-day injured list Wednesday. General manager Chris Getz said Robert may miss “several weeks.”
“He’s played extremely hard,” manager Will Venable said. “Every time I tell him that he’s got a day off, he fights me on it. And it’s just because he’s a guy that wants to be out there, he wants to play hard, he wants to set the tone for the guys and compete. Not to have him is going to be tough.”
Will Warren will get the call Thursday for the Yankees. Warren (7-6, 4.47 ERA) allowed five runs and seven hits with three walks in four innings in a 12-1 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday.
Warren received a no-decision when he faced the White Sox on Aug. 14 last season, allowing two runs and seven hits in five innings in New York’s 10-2 victory.
Fellow right-hander Davis Martin (5-9, 3.93 ERA), who opposed Warren in that game, will start for Chicago. Martin has won three of his past four decisions and defeated the Minnesota Twins 7-3 on Saturday behind five innings of two-run, five-hit ball.
Martin took a no-decision against Yankees in that Aug. 14, 2024, game — his only career appearance vs. the Yankees — and gave up one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Friday will mark the first meeting of the season between the Yankees and White Sox. They’re set to play a three-game series at Yankee Stadium from Sept. 23-25.
–Field Level Media
