Judge, Higashioka homer as Yankees pound White Sox 7-1
Aaron Judge and Kyle Higashioka homered, and the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 7-1 on Tuesday night.
Clarke Schmidt (8-6) pitched neatly into the sixth inning and combined with two relievers for 13 strikeouts, helping the playoff-contending Yankees came away with the win after losing three of four.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a two-run double and scored during New York's four-run fourth against Touki Toussaint (1-5), and the Yankees scored three more in the eighth behind the long balls by Higashioka and Judge off Tanner Banks.
Higashioka, batting for Ben Rortvedt, hit a two-run drive for his first career pinch-hit homer and the first by a Yankee this season. Judge made it 7-1 with his 21st homer.
Schmidt gave up one run and four hits over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one.
Michael King tossed 2 2/3 innings in relief, allowing two hits and striking out five without a walk, and New York came out on top after losing three of the first four meetings with the White Sox.
Chicago's Luis Robert Jr. led off the fourth with his 31st home run. But the White Sox came up short after winning three in a row.
Toussaint struck out nine in five innings. He allowed six hits and walked five.
New York took control in the fourth while sending 10 batters to the plate.
Kiner-Falefa followed back-to-back singles by Giancarlo Stanton and Billy McKinney with a two-run double. He scored on Harrison Bader's single past a diving first baseman Andrew Vaughn.
Jake Bauers added a sacrifice fly to the center-field warning track with the bases loaded, making it 4-0.
TRANSACTION
The White Sox reinstated right-hander Gregory Santos from the bereavement list and optioned righty Edgar Navarro to Triple-A Charlotte.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: Manager Pedro Grifol opted to hold SS Tim Anderson (bruised left forearm) out of the lineup after initialing penciling him in. The two-time All-Star exited Monday's game after being hit by a pitch. Anderson is also appealing a six-game suspension by Major League Baseball for fighting Cleveland slugger José Ramírez on Saturday.
UP NEXT
RHP Luis Severino (2-6, 7.74 ERA) was set to start Wednesday, though manager Aaron Boone wanted to get through Tuesday's game before making an announcement. RHP Mike Clevinger (4-5, 3.72 ERA) pitches for Chicago. ___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB