NEW YORK — Facing the Yankees is personal for Sean Burke, having grown up as a Red Sox fan in Sutton, Massachusetts. So after holding the Bronx Bombers to one run in 7 ⅓ innings, he had a message:
“This one’s for my boys back home,” he said.
It’s also for White Sox fans, who surely breathed a sigh of relief when Andrew Benintendi hit a tiebreaking pinch-hit, first-pitch grand slam in the eighth to reward Burke and give his team a 5-1 victory, avoiding a three-game sweep.
After being pummeled 12-2 and 10-5 in the first two games of the series, the Sox held the Yankees to six hits, thanks to the work of opener Bryan Hudson, who threw 1 ⅔ innings, and Burke. They also combined for 10 strikeouts, eight from Burke.
“You’re hoping for a quality outing from him,” manager Will Venable said. “Obviously, he exceeded expectations; he was outstanding. Dominant with the fastball. Didn’t just give us a chance to win, but really minimized their offense altogether.”
Burke, who tied a career high in innings pitched in a game, had every intention of finishing the game.
“When Benny hit that ball, that grand slam was huge,” Burke said. “It makes it easier for Will to send me back out. Then I went out there for the eighth and had a quick inning and told him when I was walking back in, ‘Let me finish it,’ and he was like, Yeah, go get ’em.’ ”
As for Benintendi, June has been the best month of his career, and that has proved to be the case this year. The slam was his fifth homer of the month, one more than he hit in March, April and May combined. And after posting an OPS of .687 in May, he’s at 1.083 in June.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had just replaced left-handed reliever Tim Hill with right-hander Camilo Doval, prompting Venable to send up the left-handed-hitting Benintendi for right-handed designated hitter Randal Grichuk. Doval threw a nearly 100 mph sinker that Benintendi blasted.
“I was looking for one of his fastballs,” Benintendi said. “He’s got that four-seam and the sinker. [I was] kind of in between the two, more sitting on the speed.
“Just [trying] to get the ball to the outfield, not try to do too much. He gets a lot of ground balls, so just try to lift something and get at least one [run].”
With a drive that went 393 feet to right field, he got all four.
Colson Montgomery also went deep leading off the second. It was his 20th home run of the season, tying him with Munetaka Murakami for the team lead, and his fourth in his last four games. It marked his 100th career RBI.
According to MLB researcher Sarah Langs, since July 22, 2025, the day of Montgomery’s first homer, his 41 blasts are second in the majors, behind only the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (49). This season, Montgomery leads major-league shortstops in homers and is second with 45 RBI.
Even Junior Perez contributed in his big-league debut, throwing out Anthony Volpe from left field as the Yankees shortstop tried to stretch a double into a triple in the seventh. Perez recovered after Volpe’s drive went over his head.
“Tough play up against the wall that he wasn’t able to make,” Venable said. “Did a good job getting to that ball with urgency and made a great throw.”
The Sox completed their stretch of series against the first-place Braves, Dodgers and Yankees with a 5-3 record, and they resume division play Friday against the Tigers feeling much better about themselves.