Aaron Judge, Yankees take aim at White Sox again

Already off to a strong start on the mound, the New York Yankees are in the midst of an impressive run of starting pitching, and this time it is coinciding with a massive hot streak by Aaron Judge.

Coming off a stellar turn through the rotation and after getting another homer from Judge in the series opener against the White Sox on Friday, the Yankees will attempt to stretch their winning streak to a season-high six games Saturday afternoon when they host Chicago.

The Yankees opened the series with a 4-2 victory on Friday as Nestor Cortes yielded only an unearned run and five hits in seven innings. Cortes' strong outing gave the Yankees a microscopic 0.27 ERA over the past five starts. For just the sixth time in team history, New York's starters have each pitched at least six innings in five straight starts while allowing a total of two runs in that span.

The Yankees are on their third five-game winning streak of the season.

"Just seeing those guys go out there and give so much quality starts for us, I guess like the next guy up wants to repeat and do the same," Cortes said. "Kind of has that feeling to where we were in 2022 where everybody is going six or seven innings and giving our team a chance to win."

New York has won 11 of 13 games since dropping three of four in Baltimore from April 30-May 2.

Judge was hitting .197 after the final game against the Orioles, but his average is up to .267 after he homered in the first inning and drew three walks on Friday. Each of his past seven hits went for extra bases, and he is hitting .465 (20-for-43) with six homers, nine doubles, 12 RBIs, 13 walks and 15 runs in his past 13 contests.

"You're going to have (rough) stretches where maybe it was a little longer stretch than you're used to, but nothing I was really concerned about," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge. "It was about finding time to get rhythm. He's certainly found that."

The White Sox are a respectable 11-9 since getting off to a 3-22 start. However, Chicago went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Friday, made two outs on the bases and was held to two runs or fewer for the 22nd time this season.

Tommy Pham had three of Chicago's eight hits and is batting .385 (15-for-39) during a 10-game on-base streak.

"Today we played good baseball," Pham said. "They just outplayed us. We didn't make too many mistakes. One blunder on the bases, but we competed, we put together good at-bats.

Luis Gil (4-1, 2.51 ERA) can join Clarke Schmidt as New York's second five-game winner on Saturday. Gil allowed one run or none for the fifth time in his eight starts this season when he pitched six scoreless innings in a 10-6 road win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.

Gil's only previous outing against the White Sox occurred on May 12, 2022, in Chicago, when he allowed four runs on five hits in a four-inning start. He got a no-decision.

Brad Keller (0-1, 2.84) will make his second start and fifth appearance of the season for the White Sox. Keller allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 3 in his previous start. He allowed a total of one run in 6 1/3 innings during relief appearances against the Rays on May 7 and the Cleveland Guardians on May 12.

Keller is 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA in three career appearances (two starts) against the Yankees, with all of those outings occurring while he was with the Kansas City Royals.