NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, but he didn’t need to be. He had Gleyber Torres’ scorching bat and the Yankees defense to back him up.
Torres’ two-run double in the fourth inning and two-run single in the fifth were the key blows as the Yankees continued to grind out wins, beating the Al Central-leading White Sox, 7-0, in a Saturday matinee at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees (27-19) have now won five straight games and earned a seventh straight series win. After a 5-10 start, the Yankees now have the best record in the big leagues since (22-9).
Torres, who went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, has been red hot since returning from the COVID-19 IL on Thursday. He is 8 for 14 with six RBIs after missing six games after testing positive despite being fully vaccinated.
Cole (6-2) got off to a sluggish start as he uncharacteristically walked three batters over his first four innings. How unusual was Cole’s lack of pin-point accuracy? He came into the game having walked only five batters in 57 2/3 innings this season. But he still managed to shut down — and shut out — a tough White Sox lineup over seven grinding innings, giving up four hits, three walks and seven strikeouts.
He hit 100 mph on the radar gun on his final pitch of the afternoon, a four-seam fastball that struck out Andrew Vaughn looking.
He also got plenty of help from his defense before Torres and the rest of the Yankees bats came alive. Gio Urshela started a terrific double play in the fourth to erase Cole’s third walk of the game. The Yankees turned four double plays on the day.
After Torres’ double off White Sox starter Dylan Cease gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the fourth, he came around to score on a Rougned Odor double to deep center. The floodgates opened in the next frame when Torres plated two more runs with an RBI single to left off reliever Matt Foster.
Mike Ford blasted a 447-foot homer to right center to lead off the sixth to stretch the lead to 6-0.
Gleyber Day wasn’t over yet as he scored another run in the seventh after opening the bottom of the frame with a single and coming around to score on Miguel Andujar’s double.
Relievers Justin Wilson and Luis Cessa finished off the shutout.
Despite not pitching with his best stuff, Cole still extended the Yankees remarkable run of dominance on the mound. Yankee starters have now tossed at least seven shutout innings in each of their last four starts. It started with Corey Kluber’s no-hitter against the Rangers on Wednesday, followed by Domingo German and Jordan Montgomery the next two nights.
It will be up to Jameson Taillon to keep the streak going when these two teams get back after it in the series finale Sunday afternoon at the Stadium.
