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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 16: Ben Rice #22 of the New York Yankees celebrates his fourth inning two-run home run against the Chicago White Sox in the the dugout with his teammates at Yankee Stadium on June 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Things didn’t look particularly good for the New York Yankees after one inning of play Tuesday.

Yet, the red-hot Yankees offense found a way to tag one of the most dominant young starters in the American League.

The Yankees lit up Chicago White Sox ace Davis Martin for nine earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, keyed by home runs from Spencer Jones, Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt in their 12-2 win at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees improved to 44-27, moving 2.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays atop the AL East, and won for the seventh time in the past eight games. They have 52 runs in their past eight games.

The Yankees Offense lit up Davis Martin

The White Sox have been one of the feel-good stories in the majors this season, and Martin has been a huge part of it.

After consecutive 100-plus-loss seasons, Chicago sits atop the wide-open AL Central and entered play Tuesday with consecutive series wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.

For his part, Martin has challenged Yankees ace Cam Schlittler as one of the best starters in the AL. Though 29, and a 14th-round draft pick of the White Sox in 2018, Martin finally figured things out, starting the year 9-2 with a paltry 2.41 ERA and 78 1/3 innings entering Tuesday.

But the Yankees showed him no reverence or respect, at least after the first inning, especially since he entered with just three home runs against this year. Jones scalded a 3-1 pitch 422 feet for his first Yankee Stadium homer, with an exit velocity of 117.4 mph, into the second deck in the right-field seats.

“We just trusted that we were going to get some good pitches to hit,” Jones said. “Obviously, he’s got really good stuff. I think we just did a good job of laying off the pitches that he wanted to make.”

The Yankees then tacked on four runs in the third inning before knocking Martin out with six runs in the bottom of the fourth. Six of the first seven Yankees reached in the third inning, with Cody Bellinger putting the Yankees up for good with a two-RBI single off Martin before a bases-loaded walk and sac fly made it 5-1.

Then the Yankees blew the doors off in the fourth thanks to Rice and Goldschmidt’s tandem two-run homers that caused Chicago manager Will Venable to pull Martin.

“Obviously, that’s a really good pitcher having a great year,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Martin. “Everyone just put together a lot of really good at-bats against him. We did a good job of laying off the pitches he wants you to chase, and we [were] able to slug some too.”

Gerrit Cole Once Again Looked Dominant

More daunting than facing Martin was the fact he was staked to an early lead by Andrew Benintendi’s first-inning home run off Gerrit Cole.

But Cole settled in, retiring 13 straight after the Benintendi home run. By the time he allowed his second hit, a leadoff single to Tristan Peters in the sixth inning, the Yankees were up 11-1.

Cole gave up two runs and three hits and struck out six over six innings to improve to 2-1.

Cole has a 2.57 ERA in 28 innings over five starts in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. He also has been every bit the ace the Yankees have needed since Max Fried went on the IL last month — even if he could nitpick things he could do better.

“I feel like by and large, he’s been pretty darn good,” Boone said of Cole. “I think he would tell you that there’s a lot of little nuanced areas where he can continue to get better.”