Thanks to a powerful offensive showcase and a quality start by Jordan Montgomery, the New York Yankees extended their winning streak to eight.
- Chicago White Sox: 4 (6-6)
- New York Yankees: 7 (9-4)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Montgomery pitched six-plus innings in his in his second-career start in the Bronx and held Chicago to three runs while striking out four. The 24-year-old southpaw was cruising along until Yolmer Sanchez took him deep in the top of the seventh, but he nevertheless posted the first quality start of his career.
Thankfully for the Yankees, that three-run jack by Sanchez was a non-factor thanks to two moonshots by two of the organization’s biggest sluggers.
In the bottom of the third, Matt Holliday tattooed a fastball from White Sox’s starter Derek Holland with Pete Kozma and Aaron Hicks aboard and 459-feet later, the Yankees had themselves a 3-0 lead.
Later in the inning, Chase Headley, who entered Monday tied with the best overall WAR in baseball, slapped a RBI double to left field to score Starlin Castro from second base. He went to third base on an error by Melky Cabrera and was driven in by Aaron Judge on an infield single to short.
That wouldn’t be the last we hear of Judge, though, as in the bottom of the fifth he launched a two-run home run into the left-field bullpen off Holland to extend New York’s lead to seven.
It was Judge’s fourth home run in 44 plate appearances in 2017. In comparison, the 25-year-old reached that number in 95 trips to the plate during his first taste of the majors last season.
Adam Warren relieved Montgomery after the home run by Sanchez and went two shutout innings before serving up a RBI double to Kevan Smith in the top of the ninth to make it 7-4. Manager Joe Girard then turned to Aroldis Chapman who used just two pitches to close out a 7-4 victory for the New York Yankees.
Jacoby Ellsbury raises his 2017 batting average to .326 with a well placed lead-off single in the 1st! pic.twitter.com/E5gITUkjux
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/EliteSportsNY/status/854124876180971521
https://twitter.com/EliteSportsNY/status/854134542390702080
You can put it on the board… Yes! @CarlosSan29 puts the Sox back into the ballgame with a 3 run home run! #SoxGameDay pic.twitter.com/0s8yFR3CAs
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 18, 2017
Yolmer Sanchez hits a three run homer to cut the Yankee lead to four. pic.twitter.com/Gd38vpljTu
— Doug (@Buckets2434) April 18, 2017
The streak continues.
Yankees WWWWWWWWin, 7-4!
First 7-0 start at home since 1998! #StartSpreadingTheNews pic.twitter.com/XdhPffHXi8
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 18, 2017
Take Me On A Holliday Far Away:
In the third inning, Yankees’ DH Matt Holliday smacked an absolute bullet which left the bat at approximately 114 mph and landed 459 feet away from home plate into the left-center field bleachers.
It was the fourth-longest home run by a Yankee since 2015, with Alex Rodriguez owning the only three homers hit further than the 37-year-old’s blast off Derek Holland.
https://twitter.com/EliteSportsNY/status/854124876180971521
Johnny Cash:
Prior to Monday’s contest, the Yankees traded Johnny Barbato to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Barbato appeared in just 13 games for New York and surrendered 11 earned runs over 13 innings in 2016 (7.62 ERA). The righty was taken in the sixth round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft by the San Diego Padres and traded to the Yankees on December 29, 2014, for Shawn Kelly.
ROSTER MOVE: The Yankees have traded RHP Johnny Barbato to the @Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) April 17, 2017
This Day In Yankees History:
On April 17, 1953, Yankees’ legend Mickey Mantle launched a 565-foot home run off Chuck Stobbs at Washington’s Griffith Stadium in an eventual 7-3 Yankees win.
While the bomb was intriguing enough, Yankees PR representative Red Patterson literally measured the distance himself, thus, the birth of the phrase “tape-measure” blast was born.
What’s Next:
The Sox and Yankees will square off again in the Bronx on Tuesday night for game two of this three-game series.
Taking the hill for New York will be Luis Severino, who’s coming off an 11 strikeout performance against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 13. The 23-year-old has made two starts against the White Sox in his brief career and has surrendered seven earned runs in 8.2 innings (7.27 ERA).
Miguel Gonzalez will get the nod for Chicago after giving up three runs on eight hits over 4.2 innings of work against the Cleveland Indians. In his career at Yankee Stadium, Gonzalez has served up eight home runs and 25 earned runs over 44.1 innings.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET and you can catch the action on the YES Network, CSN-C+, MLB Network (out of market only) and on the radio via WFAN or WLS 890.