About Last Night: White Sox 12, Yankees 2

About Last Night: White Sox 12, Yankees 2

By Derek McAdam

August 13, 2024

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The Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Yankees by a score of 12-2 in the first of three games between the two teams. Here’s a recap of last night’s Yankee loss.

Quick Stats: W: Touki Toussaint (1-2): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

                     L: Luis Gil (12-6): 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

-This was the White Sox first win on a Monday this season, as they lost their first 14 games on that specific day this season.

-The Yankees left a total of 16 runners on base.

The Big Story:

The Yankees came into the south-side of Chicago fresh off a series win against the Texas Rangers, and hoping to capitalize on playing the worst team in baseball this season, and one of the worst teams of all-time. After leadoff walks to Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto, Aaron Judge ripped an RBI double to give the Yankees a quick 1-0 lead. However, the next three batters would pop up and leave two runners on, a recurring theme throughout the night.

In the bottom of the inning, former Yankee Andrew Benintendi hit an RBI double off Luis Gil to score Nicky Lopez and tie the game at 1-1. Gavin Sheets then slapped an RBI double down the left field line to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

Through the first four innings, the Yankees left a total of nine runners on the bases, and it wasn’t getting much better from Gil.  In the 4th, Korey Lee took advantage of a hanging slider from Gil and sent it into the left field seats to extend the White Sox’ lead to 3-1. Lopez then drove Dominic Fletcher in with an RBI single to give the White Sox a 4-1 lead.

In the 5th, Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled and proceeded to steal second base. While making his way to third base, Anthony Volpe hit a ground ball to Lopez’s right, who was playing shortstop. Chisholm then rounded third and headed home, just beating the throw home, cutting the White Sox lead to 4-2. However, the White Sox would get a three-run lead right back after Sheets slapped another RBI double down the left field line, making the new score 5-2.

In the 7th, the White Sox managed to put together another rally on the Yankees. With a runner on second base, Sheets hit a third identical RBI double down the left field line to extend the White Sox lead to 6-2. Fletcher then hit a bloop single into center field to score Sheets, making the new score 7-2. Corey Jules then singled to left field to drive home another run and make the new score 8-2. Brooks Baldwin then hit a three-run home run to blow the game wide open, making the score 11-2.

In the 8th, the White Sox added another run on a Sheets hot shot to first base that Ben Rice couldn’t handle, scoring Andrew Vaughn and making the score 12-2.

Player of the Game:

Sheets had a very good game with four hits, three of which were slappers down the left field line. He also drove in four runs.

Notable Performances:

Vaughn also had a four hit game for the White Sox. The White Sox bullpen also came in and gave them 4.1 scoreless innings of baseball.

Better to Forget:

The Yankees surely would like to as a group, but it was a nightmare outing for Enyel de los Santos, who gave up seven runs in just 1.2 innings of work.

My Take:

This may not be the Yankees’ worst loss of the season, as I still look back on that final game against Baltimore before the All-Star break, but this is very close to being in that conversation. The Yankees had to come into this series thinking of going for the sweep. Of course, that should be the goal every time, but it doesn’t always work out that way. But when they’re playing one of the worst teams of all time, it has to be on their mind.

Not only did they lose this game, but they were blown out. Sure, the White Sox may have a little momentum under new interim manager Grady Sizemore, but it’s not to say that the Yankees didn’t have their opportunities. And I had that bad feeling after the 1st inning when the Yankees stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out that it was going to be one of those nights. Sadly, I was correct.

Sixteen runners left on base… That’s just unacceptable. Even if three or four of those were turned into runs early in the game, we may have had a completely different outcome. But the Yankees were simply unable to take advantage of baserunners and get them across the plate. It sounds like a familiar theme throughout the past few seasons.

And not only did the offense struggle to produce runs, but the pitching staff’s weaknesses were once again showcased. Gil leads the league in walks amongst all pitchers with 62, 10 more than the next pitcher on the list. And more members of the bullpen continue to implode, either making Yankee leads much closer or making deficits much harder to overcome.

This was a bad night for the Yankees, no questions asked. But they must take the next two games of this series. One loss in this series was too many, but they need to at least salvage the series and move on to Detroit with back-to-back wins. Hopefully, this blowout loss to a very bad team gives them a jolt for the next few games.

What’s Next?:

The Yankees will try and tie the series up tonight with the second game of the series. Nestor Cortes is set to take the mound for the Yankees, while Jonathan Cannon is scheduled to start for the White Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. EST from Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.