Luis Gil struck out a career-high 14 batters, Juan Soto went 4-for-4 with two home runs and the New York Yankees extended their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 6-1 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon.
It was the 18th multi-homer game of Soto’s career and his first with the Yankees. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run, doubled and drove in two runs and Jose Trevino also homered for New York, which improved to 15-6 at home.
Gill (5-1) became the 11th pitcher in Yankees history to strike out at least 14 batters in a regular-season game. He also set a franchise rookie record, breaking the mark of 13 strikeouts set by Orlando Hernandez in 1998.
At the outset, Gil had to overcome a 29-pitch first inning that saw him allow three hits, including a bloop RBI double down the left field line by Andrew Benintendi. He also allowed a walk before striking out Korey Lee to get out of a bases-loaded jam.
Gil struck out seven batters in a row between the fourth and sixth innings, just one off the team record of eight in a row set by Ron Davis on May 4, 1981. Gil left after allowing one run on five hits and a walk over six innings to win his fourth consecutive start.
Tommy Pham had a double among his two hits and Gavin Sheets also had two hits for Chicago, which lost its second straight game and fell for the fourth time in the past six games.
The White Sox’s Brad Keller (0-2) allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits, including four home runs, over four-plus innings. He walked one and struck out four.
After Benintendi gave Chicago a 1-0 lead in top of the first, the Yankees rebounded to take a 2-1 advantage in the bottom of the inning on a solo homer by Soto, a 417-foot drive to right-center, and a line-drive RBI double by Stanton.
New York extended the lead to 4-1 in the second. Trevino lined his fifth homer of the season, and third in four games, down the left field line to make it 3-1. Soto added an RBI single.
Stanton made it 5-1 in the third when he lined his 11th home run to right-center. Soto hit his 11th of the season and second of the game leading off the fifth, a 437-foot drive to right-center, to push the lead to 6-1.
–Field Level Media
