CHICAGO — As he tried to explain how the Yankees might possibly survive four to six weeks without Cody Bellinger — on top of ongoing, indefinite absences from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — Aaron Boone reached for a cliche.
“It’s going to take all of us,” the manager said a few hours before first pitch.
Trite as it was, the Yankees brought it to fruition, at least for one night, as their lineup picked up their pitching staff for a change.
On a day when Max Fried put the Yankees in an early three-run hole, they climbed out of it to take a lead and then later broke a tie for good on the way to a 9-5 win over the White Sox on Monday night at Rate Field.
Coming off a weekend in which they scored a combined eight runs in three games against the Phillies — putting plenty of stress on their pitchers with little to no margin for error — the Yankees (60-46) used a pair of four-run innings to claim the series opener against the first-place White Sox (55-50) and win for the 10th time in their last 14 games.
An offensive attack capped off by Ali Sánchez’s first career home run — a three-run shot in the eighth inning — allowed the Yankees to score more than five runs for only the third time in their last 33 games since back-to-back double-digit outbursts against these White Sox back on June 16-17.
They also had not won a game by more than three runs since July 9, and while Camilo Doval and fielding errors from José Caballero and Anthony Volpe threatened that feat in the ninth inning, David Bednar came in to nail down the final out.
Despite some shoddy defense early and late, the Yankees delivered in the clutch when they were still clinging to a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning as Colson Montgomery tried to score all the way from first on a two-out double from Chase Meidroth. But left fielder Max Schuemann — starting a second straight game for Bellinger, who may be out until September with a Grade 2 hamstring strain — started a strong relay to Volpe and Sánchez to nail Montgomery at the plate to end the frame.
The Yankees then broke the game open in the next half-inning, which began with a Jasson Domínguez infield single, a Volpe single and a Jazz Chisholm Jr. bunt single that scored Domínguez on a throwing error. Sánchez delivered the big blow with a three-run blast off lefty Sean Newcomb that made it a 9-4 lead.
Still working on a limited pitch count in his second start back from the injured list — after he was incredibly sharp in five innings Wednesday — Fried lasted just three innings and 66 pitches Monday after giving up three runs in a 32-pitch first.
But his offense had his back, rallying for four runs in the fourth inning, which Rice and Paul Goldschmidt sparked with back-to-back walks against White Sox lefty Noah Schultz. After an RBI groundout from Volpe, Chisholm tied the game with a two-run double. Then he took third on a delayed steal and came in to score on another RBI groundout from Spencer Jones.
The Yankees later took the lead for good in the seventh inning, when pinch hitter Amed Rosario led off with a double and eventually came in to score on Rice’s two-out single.
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Former Yankee Randal Grichuk — the lefty killer they designated for assignment in April but could sorely use now due to injuries — led off the bottom of the first with a hard ground ball that bounced off the third-base bag and into left field as he raced for second. Schuemann’s throw to second base was on time to get Grichuk, but Chisholm could not handle the hop, allowing Grichuk to reach safely on a double.
Munetaka Murakami came up next and smoked a line drive to center to put runners on the corners.
One out later, Montgomery roped an RBI single through the right side, which Meidroth followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Braden Montgomery then smacked a triple to left field that was just out of the reach of Schuemann, who landed awkwardly on the warning track and was tended to by a trainer and Aaron Boone before staying in the 3-0 game.
