New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox

Max Fried (4-3, 3.23 ERA) got the ball for New York fresh off a strong return from the injured list, while Noah Schultz (3-7, 6.15 ERA) started for a Chicago rotation that's been searching for answers all month. The contrast in trajectories was the whole story coming in — one veteran lefty rounding back into form, one rookie fighting to keep his job.

Schultz's last time out was ugly: 3.2 innings, 5 earned runs and 11 hits allowed in a loss to Texas, the kind of outing that's had Chicago's front office reportedly eyeing outside pitching help before the deadline. Fried, meanwhile, was pinpoint in his first start back from an elbow issue, tossing 5 shutout innings with 7 strikeouts against Pittsburgh. That gap in recent form loomed large in Chicago.

New York came in as the betting favorite on the strength of that pitching mismatch and a deeper overall roster, even with a banged-up lineup. The White Sox, playing at home off a lopsided win of their own, had juice at the plate to make it interesting — and for three innings, they did.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
NYY	0	0	0	4	0	0	1	4	0	9	10	2
CWS	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	10	3

Chicago jumped Fried for 3 runs in the first, and for a moment it looked like the White Sox bats — Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery both hot in the second half — were going to make this a track meet. But Fried settled in, and the Yankees answered with a 4-run fourth to erase the deficit before blowing it open with 4 more in the eighth.

New York's doing this without Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton or Cody Bellinger, all sidelined with no firm return dates — Bellinger's hamstring strain alone could keep him out into September. That the Yankees are still 59-46 and capable of nights like this speaks to the pitching depth and secondary bats picking up slack. Chicago's injury list runs even longer, with catcher Kyle Teel and a stack of bullpen arms all shelved.

The final line — 9-5, 10 hits apiece, and a combined 5 errors — was messier than the box score's bottom line suggests. For the White Sox, it's another data point in the Schultz debate as the deadline approaches. For the Yankees, it's a reminder that even a lineup missing three of its biggest names can still find enough offense to bury a shaky rotation arm.

Sources