After facing three perennial postseason teams in the National League, the White Sox visit the American League-leading New York Yankees on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Chicago heads to New York after going 5-3 in eight games against the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. Those games are part of an 11-5 stretch in the past 16 games to get the White Sox over .500.
After sweeping a rain-shortened series with the Braves, the White Sox took two of three from the Dodgers. They were no-hit into the ninth inning during Saturday’s 7-1 loss but rebounded with a 6-4 win by getting six straight hits to start a six-run sixth inning en route to their 19th comeback victory.
Chicago earned its latest win by hitting three homers in the sixth as rookie Sam Antonacci, Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth connected.
Chicago’s hot streak is occurring despite Montgomery hitting .147 (5-for-34) in his past nine games. The White Sox are withstanding Montgomery’s slump by seeing Miguel Vargas hit .318 (14-for-44) in his past 11 games and Meidroth bat .333 (14-for-42) in his last 11.
“You should stop thinking of us as a surprise (team) just because we are consistently winning, consistently in every game,” Montgomery said. “It doesn’t matter what team it is, we are not going to overlook them. We are going to play our ball. Those days (of being a surprise) are kind of over.”
The Yankees, who clinched a playoff spot last season with a walk-off win over the White Sox on Sept. 23, entered Monday with a one-game lead on the Tampa Bay Rays for the top of the league and the AL East.
New York is 7-4 in 11 games since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured right rib that will keep him out indefinitely and won five of six games on a trip through Cleveland and Toronto.
New York’s last two victories were decided in the ninth inning. Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Blue Jays, while Ben Rice and Jose Caballero homered in a five-run ninth to give the Yankees an 8-3 victory on Sunday.
“It just speaks to the mentality of the group,” Rice said. “I feel like everyone’s got that next-man-up mentality. Regardless of who’s on the mound, regardless of the situation, we’re going to go up there and put together a quality at-bat.”
New York will open the series with Gerrit Cole (1-1, 2.45 ERA), who is coming off his shortest start since returning from elbow surgery. Cole took a no-decision on June 9 when the right-hander allowed two runs on five hits in four innings in New York’s 3-2 win at Cleveland.
Cole is 3-2 with a 4.18 ERA in five career starts against the White Sox and is facing them for the first time since Aug. 7, 2023.
Chicago is starting righty Davis Martin (9-2, 2.41), who will look to become the first double-digit winner for the White Sox since Dylan Cease and Lucas Giolito won 14 and 11 games, respectively, in 2022. Martin bounced back from allowing six runs in a loss at Minnesota on June 2 by allowing six hits in six scoreless innings during Wednesday’s 2-1 home win over Atlanta.
Martin has three scoreless starts this season, has not allowed a homer in his past four starts and has given up just three overall in 78 1/3 innings after allowing 20 in 142 2/3 innings last season.
He has a 4.61 ERA in three no-decisions against the Yankees, who have scored eight runs off him (seven earned) on 14 hits and eight walks with 15 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
