Considering Juan Soto hit three homers, Nestor Cortes threw seven shutout innings and the White Sox still managed to bring the winning run to the plate in the ninth inning, the Yankees still shouldn't feel all that great about how they look this series.
That said, they've still won one and lost one, and so the White Sox will have to work to avoid their 12th consecutive series loss Wednesday night.
Soto accounted for all of the Yankee runs tonight. He muscled a Jonathan Cannon sinker into the White Sox bullpen in the third inning for a two-run shot, slashed an outside-corner cutter over the White Sox bullpen in the fifth (a slightly worse version of what he took for a strike one pitch earlier), and then cranked an up-and-in Fraser Ellard fastball well out to right in the seventh to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead.
When he came to the plate for a chance for the second four-homer game in Yankees history, Jared Shuster wanted nothing to do with him. Shuster started 3-0, and while Soto tried to keep the at-bat alive by flailing at an outside slider, Shuster missed with a high-and-tight changeup Soto could only spin away from. Shuster ended up walking Aaron Judge to load the bases, but Lenyn Sosa maxed out his vertical to snag Austin Wells' line drive and snapped a throw to second for a 4-6 double play.
The White Sox almost benefited from the conservative course. Luis Robert came thorough with a sorely needed single in the eighth to narrow the lead to 4-1, which made it a save situation for a team missing its closer. Latham's Tommy Kahnle got the first crack at it after getting Andrew Benintendi to roll over a changeup to end the eighth, but he walked Andrew Vaughn and gave up a double to Gavin Sheets to bring the tying run to the plate, and that's when Aaron Boone called for Jake Cousins.
Cousins, a White Sox non-roster invitee traded to the Yankees for cash considerations at the end of March, added to a productive comeback season with his first career save. He struck out Korey Lee, but he walked Miguel Vargas to load the bases. Grady Sizemore tried getting the matchup advantage by pinch-hitting Nicky Lopez for Corey Julks, but Lopez popped out. Brooks Baldwin also came to the plate with the advantage, but he didn't have patience. Cousins threw him five sliders, and even though only one was a strike, Baldwin offered at all of them, including a checked-swing attempt that went too far on the final pitch.
Still, it was a more exciting ending than the first seven innings suggested was possible. Cortes, who hadn't thrown a quality start in his last five appearances, breezed through his outing tonight, even with a minimum of wackiness in his deliveries. He opened the game by retiring the first 11 until Benintendi broke up the no-hit bid with a two-out single in the fourth. Vargas had a two-out single in the fifth, so it wasn't until Baldwin's leadoff double in the sixth that the Sox had their first actual scoring threat.
Sosa tried to bring the tying run to the plate with an attempt at a bunt hit, but it was a little too firm and Cortes made a nice play on it, so he had to settle for a sacrifice bunt 1-3. That only put the spotlight on Robert's issues. He struck out four pitches, including a changeup that wasn't even close the zone, and Benintendi flied out to keep the Sox scoreless. That's why it was a relief to see Robert take advantage of an elevated Mark Leiter Jr. sinker in the eighth inning with two on and two outs in the eighth. It was merely a lined single to right center, but it was under control, and it helped the Sox dodge a shutout.
Cannon was a little more erratic than usual, although he would've gotten away with it if it weren't for that meddling Soto. He gave up five hits, three walks and a hit batter over 4⅔ innings and 95 pitches, and while some of it was pitching carefully, he also survived an array of hard-hit balls. He also walked and plunked the ninth hitter, Anthony Volpe, and he ended up paying for the five-pitch free pass in the third, because that accounted for the only Yankee run that wasn't scored by Soto.
The White Sox bullpen once again stepped up with quality work. Ellard gave up Soto's third homer of the game, but that was a great hitter beating a good pitch, and it was the only run scored off him, Chad Kuhl or Shuster over 4⅓ innings.
Soto, by the way, is only 25 years old. He's hitting .306/.434/.608, and will be a free agent at the end of the year. Jerry Reinsdorf hasn't ruled out signing him, but he probably would if only he were available to be asked.
Bullet points:
*Vargas had a busy, successful night in the field, including a backhand stop behind third base and a strong throw all the way across the diamond to get Gleyber Torres to open the sixth.
*Baldwin almost had a second game end on an interference call when he wandered into Austin Wells' path on his only foul ball during the final at-bat of the game, but the ball was over the screen by a few rows.
