CHICAGO (AP) — Gavin Sheets matched a career high with four hits and drove in four runs, Korey Lee and Brooks Baldwin homered, and the Chicago White Sox gave interim manager Grady Sizemore his first win, pounding the New York Yankees 12-2 Monday night after losing 24 of 25.
The White Sox set season highs for runs and with 18 hits after dropping their first two games under Sizemore, who took over when the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol on Thursday. They had lost three straight since beating Oakland to stop a 21-game skid that matched an American League record.
“I just couldn’t be happier for the guys,” said Sizemore, wearing a wide grin and a soaked shirt after being doused by some concoction of liquids and shaving cream. “Just what a great win. A great game played all around, all sides of the ball. So proud of them.”
Lee connected leading off a two-run fourth against Yankees starter Luis Gil. Baldwin capped a six-run seventh with a three-run drive against Enyel De Los Santos that made it 11-2.
Sheets hit RBI doubles in a two-run first, in the fifth against Tim Hill and in the seventh off De Los Santos. He also scored in the inning on a single by Dominic Fletcher, and singled in a run in the eighth.
Andrew Vaughn had four hits and scored twice, helping the White Sox take out a team that came in tied with Baltimore for baseball’s best record.
New York’s Aaron Judge doubled in a run in the first against rookie Ky Bush. He came a few feet short of his 300th home run and a grand slam when he hit a fly to the warning track in the second. But the Yankees were 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16.
“Yeah, they’re one of the worst teams, if you want to put it that way, but these guys are still big leaguers,” said Alex Verdugo, who scored a run. “They can still have days where they’re clicking. We saw it today, a lot of their guys 3 for 4, 3 for 4. These guys can still have good days. We’ve got to just do a better job of coming out and cashing in those runs that we had on base, kind of step on them early.”
Bush allowed two runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings in his second major league start. The 24-year-old left-hander walked seven and threw 97 pitches, after losing at Oakland last week in his debut.
Touki Toussaint (1-2) got the win in relief, recording four outs.
Gil (12-6) threw 98 pitches in four innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. The 26-year-old right-hander walked two.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: 3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. exited the game with a left elbow injury. He was hurt on a headfirst dive scoring in the fifth and was scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday. “I’m not super concerned about it,” he said. “All the tests that we’ve done in here have been pretty positive.”
White Sox: The White Sox held CF Luis Robert Jr. out of the lineup, giving him another day of rest after the team had a rare scheduled day off on Sunday. Robert missed two months early in the season because of a strained a right hip flexor. “I think we forget what he’s kind of gone through and how fast he came back,” Sizemore said.
UP NEXT
Yankees LHP Nestor Cortes (5-10, 4.42 ERA) tries to bounce back from one of his worst outings of the season, while White Sox RHP Jonathan Cannon (2-5, 3.91) looks to win his second straight start. Cortes matched season highs with six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels last week. Cannon went six innings at Oakland on Tuesday as the White Sox snapped their American League record-tying losing streak at 21 games.