Luis Gil strikes out 14, Juan Soto hits two home runs in Yankees' 6-1 win over White Sox
The Yankees hit four home runs and extended their winning streak to six games with a dominant 6-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon.
Here are the takeaways...
- Juan Soto came to play Saturday afternoon, as the star crushed a solo home run off of White Sox starter Brad Keller in the bottom of the first to tie the game up at 1-1. Soto came up to bat again in the bottom of the second inning with a runner on second base and two outs, and delivered an RBI-single to give the Yanks a 4-1 lead.
The potential future AL MVP kept it going during his third at-bat, launching his second homer of the day (No. 11 on the year) in the fifth inning to put the Yankees ahead, 6-1. Soto finished the day 4-for-4 with three RBI and a walk.
- After a shaky first inning, starter Luis Gil settled in and had the best start of his young career. The 25-year-old struck out 14 batters and allowed just one run on five hits with a walk over 98 pitches in 6.0 IP. Gil's ERA now sits at 2.39 over nine starts with 62 strikeouts in 49.0 innings of work.
It's only the 16th 14-strikeout game in franchise history (15 in the regular season and one by Roger Clemens in the 2000 ALCS) and first since Gerrit Cole back in September 2022 against the Minnesota Twins (h/t @River Ave. Blues)
Gil is also the second youngest Yankee to strike out 14 or more batters in a game at 25 years and 350 days old. Al Downing (22 years and 8 days old) had 14 K's on July 6, 1963 at Cleveland.
- Giancarlo Stanton drove in a run on a double to put the Yanks up 2-1 in the first inning. He then made it back-to-back games with a home run, hitting a solo shot to center in the third to give NY a 5-1 lead. Stanton went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a walk, and is now hitting .393 (11-for-28) over his last seven games.
- Soto and Stanton weren't the only Bronx Bombers to go deep on Saturday, as catcher Jose Trevino hit a solo homer to left field in the second inning to make it a 3-1 game. It's Trevino's fifth home run of the year.
- Anthony Volpe extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a double to right-center in the bottom of the sixth inning. Volpe is now hitting .270 on the season.
- While most of the lineup had a strong day at the plate, Aaron Judge finished just 1-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Game MVP: Luis Gil
As impressive as Soto's day at the plate was, it was the young right-hander who stole the show Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Gil became the 19th pitcher in the live ball era (since 1920) to have a 14+ strikeout game in one of his first 16 big league starts.
The last seven to accomplish that feat are Stephen Strasburg, Kerry Wood, Hideo Nomo (twice), Dwight Gooden, Burt Hooton, J.R. Richard, and Nolan Ryan (h/t Jeff Quagliata).
Highlights
What's Next
The Yankees wrap up their three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET.
Carlos Rodon (4-2, 3.31 ERA) gets the start for the Yanks while Chris Flexen (2-3, 4.46 ERA) takes the mound for Chicago.
