Vaughn's HR, web gem guide White Sox past Yankees

CHICAGO -- Andrew Vaughn did the job with his bat and his glove at first base during an impressive 5-1 victory for the White Sox over the Yankees on Monday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

So, did the success on offense in the second inning or defense in the sixth stand out for him more during a third straight White Sox win?

“That play was pretty special,” Vaughn said. “The feeling of making an impact in the game, it's really huge for me. Just get to the line and do what I've always worked on since I was a little kid and try to get the ball in the glove and then get to the bag.”

Vaughn’s web gem came with the White Sox (46-68) holding onto a 2-0 lead, while the Yankees (58-55) had the bases loaded and two outs. Jake Bauers ripped a 1-0 four-seam fastball from Brent Honeywell, who was making his White Sox debut, toward the right-field corner with the look of a bases-clearing smash upon contact.

But Vaughn dove toward the line, corralled the ball, got up, sprinted to the bag and slid feet first just a moment before Bauers landed. Bauers didn’t think Vaughn had a play on his grounder, which was hit with a 100.2 mph exit velocity, per Statcast.

“Not when I hit it, no,” Bauers said. “But it looks like he was playing on the line there and made a good play, beat me to the bag.”

“It was a great play. He’s definitely player of the game,” said White Sox winning pitcher Dylan Cease. “The home run, the plays -- nothing more to be said.”

Cease was wild but effective, walking seven batters while striking out six over 5 1/3 innings. The Yankees didn’t manage a hit until D.J. LeMahieu’s single to left as the last batter faced by Cease.

New York loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning on three straight walks, but it failed to score following two flyouts to left fielder Andrew Benintendi and a Bauers groundout to Cease. He became the first White Sox pitcher to walk seven batters and not give up a run since Dan Wright on Aug. 6, 2001, against Tampa Bay, and he ranks first in the Majors with zero or one earned run allowed in 33 starts since 2020.

“Every once in a while, games like that happen,” Cease said. “But I feel, especially after the third, I feel like I kind of got locked in. I feel good going forward. It wasn’t very pretty, but it got the job done.”

Bryan Shaw finished the victory with his second career two-inning save. The only support Cease (5-5) and three relievers needed came when Vaughn connected for a two-run home run off Gerrit Cole (10-3).

Vaughn certainly has leadership potential moving forward, and he has been attached to that role by general manager Rick Hahn and manager Pedro Grifol in numerous interviews.

Vaughn’s response to such lofty praise is simply to do anything possible to help the team. He fulfilled that goal on Monday, punctuating the effort with a running catch of Giancarlo Stanton’s foul popup for the second out in the ninth.

“Finally we've got a good group, a group of guys to come together. We're all learning this, too, we're younger guys. Try to right the ship,” Vaughn said. “We've got two months left in the season, and I think our biggest thing is just go out and compete, work and be ourselves.

“We have to go out and just be us. Keep grinding and play good baseball. We're going to grind to make this thing closer and closer every day.”