YANKEES 7 WHITE SOX 0
After a humiliating and season-altering four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, the Yankees had to be at least a little relieved to be traveling to the Windy City to take on those other Sox, who have nearly as many losses (71) as Boston (79) has wins.
In his first start as a Yankee, newcomer Lance Lynn took advantage of the lowly White Sox, going 7.1 shutout innings, striking out nine and allowing just two hits in the Bomber’s 7-0 victory Monday night.
The right-hander, acquired from the Twins in a deal that sent Tyler Austin to Minnesota, was starting in perpetually struggling Sonny Gray’s spot in the rotation and gave the Yankees something to be hopeful about after a dismal trip to Fenway Park, even if it was against a team that is 30 games below .500.
“I’m really happy with the way the guys bounced back,” Aaron Boone said. “Obviously Lance Lynn, just a huge pick-me-up. A good way to kick off this series for us.”
The Yankees broke open the scoring in the fourth, when Giancarlo Stanton walked and Didi Gregorius doubled to send Stanton to third. Back-toback singles by Aaron Hicks and Gleyber Torres then plated the first two runs. The floodgates could have been opened wider, but with first and third, Greg Bird’s bid for a home run was snagged by center fielder Adam Engel, who reached over the wall to bring it back.
The Yanks tacked on two more in the following frame, though, when Kyle Higashioka and Brett Gardner hit one-out singles. A wild pitch scored Higashioka and Gregorius came through again with a single to plate Gardner. Torres hit his 18th home run of the season and Neil Walker followed with a two-run dinger of his own in the eighth inning.
Lynn cruised through seven innings with just the one hit and one walk, retiring a career-high 19 straight before a single to start the eighth. He got one more out in the frame before being pulled at 108 pitches, 70 for strikes.
Boone said Lynn working his heater at the top of the zone made him especially effective.
“We saw a lot of elevated fastballs from him, but also the sinker he works down at the bottom of the zone,” Boone said.
CC Sabathia takes the ball for the Yankees tonight with ace Luis Severino following him on Wednesday. Both pitchers could use solid starts to get themselves back on track and to give the Yankees a potential sweep of the White Sox, which is much needed after the Boston debacle.
“Look, it was a tough day coming in here with the travel and for the guys to come out and play well, I thought our energy was good and we gotta keep that going tomorrow,” Boone said. “Hopefully CC can take it from here tomorrow.”