Yoendrys Gómez walked the first three batters in Friday’s start against the New York Yankees.
It was the beginning of a wild night for Chicago White Sox pitchers.
The Sox walked nine Yankees in a 10-2 loss in front of 28,069 at Rate Field.
“Walks were a problem,” manager Will Venable said. “You know that coming in with the Yankees offense, they control the zone extremely well and they do a lot of damage. When you walk guys and give them free passes, it’s just a matter of time before they make you pay for them.”
Gómez, who spent portions of three seasons with the Yankees (2023-25), allowed five runs (four earned) on two hits with six strikeouts and six walks in four innings.
“I think I was trying to be just too perfect, and that led to me missing pitches and missing my spots,” Gomez said through an interpreter.
“I just tried to compete. I wasn’t able to command my pitches, a lot of walks. Everybody knows they have very good hitters. But I just have to attack the hitters.”
The Sox have lost four straight, allowing at least 10 runs in each of their last three games. They have been outscored 37-11 during the skid. At 48-87, the Sox are a season-worst 39 games under .500.
Gómez overcame the three walks in the first to limit the Yankees to just one run in the inning. He wasn’t as fortunate in the fourth. Gómez walked two in that inning ahead of a grand slam by Trent Grisham, which put the Yankees ahead 5-0.
“Since he’s come back and started for us, he’s had really good command,” Venable said of Gómez. “That’s one of the things he really went to work on when he was down in Triple A and has been really good. Against a tough team, they make really good swing decisions. They really forced him into the zone, he just wasn’t able to make the adjustment.”
Reliever Grant Taylor walked the first two batters he faced in the sixth. Both scored during a three-run inning.
“He’s just struggling with his stuff,” Venable said of Taylor, who has allowed six earned runs in his last two outings while pitching two-thirds of an inning. “Obviously the command is a big thing for him, just being in the zone. He’s got such good stuff, if he throws strikes, he’s going to be effective. When he doesn’t have his command, we see what happens. And that’s the case with everybody, really.”
While Gómez struggled, Yankees starter Carlos Rodón fared much better against his former team. The left-hander allowed one run on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks in six innings in his first time pitching at his former home park since 2021.
“I thought early we just missed some pitches in the zone,” Venable said. “I don’t want to say he was effectively wild, but it kind of felt like that where we were chasing him around the zone. He was just effective in a lot of different ways and we couldn’t string anything together.”
A first-round pick in 2014, Rodón went 42-38 with a 3.79 ERA and 710 strikeouts in 121 games (116 starts) during seven seasons with the Sox from 2015-21. He earned All-Star honors in 2021, a year in which he also tossed a no-hitter.
“I was 22 years old when I made my debut for the White Sox,” Rodón told reporters covering the Yankees. “Pitched in some big games, pitched in some playoff games. I think the best thing about it was the staff over there and my teammates, you know, the team we had, we were all really close and we had a really good time together.”
Friday marked Rodón’s second regular-season start against the Sox. He allowed two runs and struck out six in six innings on May 19, 2024 during a 7-2 Yankees win at Yankee Stadium.
He received a nice ovation early in Friday’s game after the Sox played a video tribute recognizing his time with the club. Rodón waved to the crowd in acknowledgment.
“I was grateful for it,” Rodón said of the video.
The Sox had 12 hits Friday but went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Colson Montgomery went 1-for-4 in his return to the lineup after missing two games because of left side soreness. His hit was a single as his consecutive games with a home run streak ended at four.
“We’ve got to keep pushing,” said catcher Edgar Quero, who went 2-for-4 with a walk. “We know we have a couple guys out of the lineup (with Luis Robert Jr. and Miguel Vargas on the injured list). It’s part of the game. But we’ve got to go out, we’ve got to keep pushing. We have to try to finish the season really good.”