CHICAGO — For the Yankees, this week represents the equivalent of squirrels fattening up before the winter months.
Nobody said it had to be pretty, but they just keep getting the job done with stiffer tests ahead.
Coming off a sweep of the lowly Nationals, the Yankees continued to take advantage of a soft spot on the schedule with their fifth straight win, beating the White Sox 10-4 in the opener of a four-game set on Thursday night at Rate Field.
A two-week gauntlet awaits after this weekend, but in the meantime, the Yankees (74-60) crushed three more home runs to keep pace with the Red Sox, trailing them by a half-game for the top AL wild-card spot, and moving within four games of the idle Blue Jays for the AL East lead.
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Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham all homered as the Yankees have now gone deep 17 times during this five-game winning streak — their second in the last two weeks, with three losses to the Red Sox in between.
The Yankees also capitalized on some shoddy defense by the White Sox (48-86) — owners of the second-worst record in the majors — and survived a crucial error of their own by Anthony Volpe that led to four unearned runs off Will Warren.