Bellinger, Goldschmidt power Yankees to 10-5 series-clinching win over White Sox
- Davis Cornell
- Jun 17
- 4 min read
The Yankees scored double-digit runs for the second night in a row, taking down the White Sox 10-5 to win the series. Carlos Rodon got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Anthony Kay.
“You're going to go through your challenging moments, so you try and embrace this and keep it going as best you can,” Aaron Boone said
Rodon navigated around a one-out double in the top of the first inning and picked up his first strikeout to work a scoreless frame.
Cody Bellinger kicked off the scoring in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run bomb into the short porch, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
“For me, with runners in scoring position, just trying to keep it simple, just trying to save within myself, and execute my plan,” Belli said.
The Yankees extended the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning. Jose Caballero was hit by a pitch. Then Anthony Volpe drilled an RBI triple to left center, and Ali Sánchez followed with an RBI single.
In the top of the third inning, Colson Montgomery crushed a three-run home run to make it a one-run ballgame.
Belli led off the bottom of the third with a double into the right field corner, then moved up to third on a wild pitch. However, Jasson Dominguez grounded out, Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out, and Caballero popped up a bunt to strand Belli at third.
Belli led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a base knock to right field, his third hit of the day. Dominguez followed by dunking a bloop double into right field to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Then extended the Yankees' lead to 6-3 with a two-run single. Then, with two outs, Paul Goldschmidt sent a three-run bomb into the short porch, his 11th of the year already passing last year's total, to make it 9-3.
Paul Blackburn replaced Rodon on the mound in the top of the sixth inning and worked a scoreless frame.
Final line for Rodon: Five innings pitched, allowed seven hits, three runs, walked one, and struck out seven on 99 pitches. He threw his fastball 44% of the time, the changeup 20%, the slider 18%, the sinker 14%, and the curveball 3%. Rodon topped out at 97.3 mph, averaging 94.9, and had 13 swings and misses.
“I thought it was OK,” Rodon said. “I thought they had some pretty good at-bats. And obviously, Colson had some good swings in that game. And at first at bat, he just long 11 pitch at bat and left the slider out over when I was ahead. And he made a good swing. So they can hit a little bit. They got a good approach. And there's a reason why they're first and they are central.”
Blackburn came back out for the top of the seventh and worked a 1-2-3 inning with some help from a beautiful diving catch from Caballero to rob Yankees legend Randal Grichuk.
Jazz joined the party in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run into the Yankees' bullpen to give him double-digit bombs on the season and give the Yankees double-digit runs for the second straight game.
Blackburn remained in the game for the top of the eighth inning and surrendered a solo shot to Montgomery, his second of the night, to cut the Yankees' lead to 10-4. Brent Headrick took over for Blackburn with runners on the corners and one out. Headrick picked up a strikeout and a flyout to strand both runners.
Jake Bird got the call for the top of the ninth and immediately served up a solo home run to Sam Antonacci, making it 10-5. Bird then settled in and picked up the final three outs to give the Yankees the series win.
The Yankees will look to complete the sweep tomorrow with Ryan Weathers on the mound, facing off against Sean Burke. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: Another great night for the Yankees offense as everyone in the starting lineup had a hit for the second straight run, 13 total, leading to double-digit runs yet again. Rodon was decent, just made one mistake, a hanging slider that Montgomery crushed. Blackburn followed Rodon by picking up seven outs. Headrick came in and picked up two outs to pick up Blackburn, who left him in a jam. Bird then closed the door. Belli had another three-hit game, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He is now hitting .280 with a .860 OPS. Goldy had another multi-hit and crushed a three-run bomb to break the game open; he is now hitting .301 with a .928 OPS. Sánchez had a couple of hits tonight; he had been really solid since he got called up. Jazz went deep and has been playing so much better after a slow start to his season. And the Rays lost yet again, as the Yankees now have a 3.5 game lead in the AL East. Just a great night all around. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to get a good start from Weathers, who has struggled as of late.
“Everyone's contributing, it's been fun, but at the end of the day, we've got a lot of baseball left, we know that,” Belli said. “And, we just keep on going.”
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