Image of Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge celebrating the Yankees clinching their ticket to the 2025 postseason. Credit: Yankees on X
THE BRONX, NY — Instant Reaction to the Yankees 8-1 win over the White Sox, to tie the Blue Jays atop of the AL East — though Toronto owns the tiebreaker, so the Yankees are essentially a half game back — and improve to 90-68 on the season.
Max Fried worked a 13 pitch 1-2-3 first inning with two strikeouts to start the game.
The Yankees loaded the bases, all on walks, with no outs in the bottom of the first. They did not score a run.
Max Fried surrendered a run in a sloppy second inning after back-to-back singles lead to a sac fly, getting the White Sox on the board first. Then Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisholm Jr. would combine for an error, puting the Yankees in a bad spot, but a flyout as Brooks Baldwin and a strikeout of Michael Taylor ended the inning with nothing else across.
The Yankees punched right back with Aaron Judge hitting his 50th home run in the second inning, a three-run shot deep into the Yankees bullpen, to bail their pitcher and their defense out.
The Yankees would tack on two more runs in the third inning after a triple by Rice, an RBI single by Goldschmidt and an RBI double by Goldschmidt.
While the Yankees offense took the next few innings off, their ace, Max Fried, was able to hold the four-run lead he was handed, twirling seven innings of 1-run ball on 107 pitches. It might not have been the most dominat start by Fried, but he fought and got the job done for the Yankees.
The Yankees offense began to show signs of life in the seventh inning, with Judge and Stanton both reaching on singles, but a Rice flyout and a Goldschmidt strikeout would leave the runners stranded.
Devin Williams was the first out of the Yankees bullpen and he pitched a quick 1-2-3 eighth inning. Williams is now living up he nickname “high-lev Dev”.
The Yankees added two insurance runs in the eighth inning on a Trent Grisham two-out, two-run homer, following a two-out walk to McMahon. It was Grisham’s 34th homer of the season, and more importantly, a 7-1 Yankees lead.
Aaron Judge would follow up with his second home run of the game, and his 51st home run of the season, and giving the Yankees an 8-1 lead.
Paul Blackburn came on and closed out the victory, saving the bullpen.