Gil sets Yankees’ rookie record with 14 K’s

MLB

NEW YORK — Luis Gil struck out 14 to set a franchise record for a rookie while Juan Soto had his first multihomer game of the season in the Yankees‘ 6-1 drubbing of the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.

Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Trevino also went deep for New York, which has won 12 of 14 and improved to an AL-best 32-15. Soto was 4-for-4 with a walk and is batting .317 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs.

New York is 12-2-1 in series, matching 2002 as the only times since 1950 the Yankees have won 12 of their first 15 series.

Soto tied the score in the first with a 417-foot drive deep into the right-field bleachers, had an RBI single in the second and hit another solo shot in the fifth with a 437-footer that went even deeper into the right-field bleachers. It was the 18th multihomer game for Soto, who combined with Stanton and Aaron Judge to make New York the first team this year with a trio of double-digit home run hitters.

Gil (5-1) won his fourth straight start and fifth consecutive decision, allowing 1 run, 5 hits and 1 walk in six innings. The right-hander has given up just two runs over 24⅓ innings in his past four starts.

Gil, 25, topped the previous Yankees rookie record of 13 strikeouts, which was set on Aug. 13, 1998, by Orlando Hernandez — who threw out Saturday’s ceremonial first pitch.

After struggling through a 29-pitch first inning that included 13 changeups, Gil struck out seven in a row starting in the fourth in a streak ended by Eloy Jimenez’s single.

Brad Keller (0-2) allowed a career-high four homers. Making his second start this season, he gave up six runs, five earned — and seven hits in four-plus innings. Chicago batters struck out 16 times as the White Sox dropped to a major league-worst 4-18 on the road and 14-32 overall.

Andrew Benintendi’s opposite-field RBI double to left put Chicago ahead in the first, but Gil stranded the bases loaded when Korey Lee took a fastball for a called third strike.

Soto tied the score, Judge reached on an infield hit when third baseman Danny Mendick double-clutched before his throw, and Stanton hit an opposite-field RBI double off the right-center wall for a 2-1 lead.

Stanton homered to right-center in the fourth, his 11th of the season and fifth in nine games.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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