CHICAGO -- The taxed bullpen was on Nestor Cortes¡¯ mind as he walked to the mound for his first inning on Tuesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, recognizing that the Yankees desperately needed the left-hander to provide length.

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Cortes delivered, turning in seven scoreless innings in the Yanks¡¯ 4-1 victory over the White Sox. Though it came against a last-place club, Cortes believes his sharp effort can represent a turning point for his up-and-down season.

¡°I felt like something clicked for me today,¡± Cortes said. ¡°Hopefully, I can continue to do what I did today for the next outing.¡±

Supported by the first three-homer game of Juan Soto¡¯s career, Cortes held Chicago to just three hits in a 104-pitch, nine-strikeout effort, retiring the first 11 batters before Andrew Benintendi¡¯s fourth-inning single. He did not walk a batter, using his sweeper and changeup frequently to keep the White Sox guessing.

¡°I feel like he¡¯s been close to that, even while he¡¯s gone through some struggles,¡± manager Aaron Boone said. ¡°The changeup was really good for him tonight; life to the heater, the cutter was getting to where he wanted it. He was efficient. That [White Sox] team put up 18, 19 hits on us yesterday.¡±

Cortes finished strong, setting down the last six batters. His effort provided much-needed respite for a weary relief crew hammered for 20 runs over the past three games (11 2/3 innings).

¡°I realized that we¡¯d played a lot of games the last week or so, and a lot of doubleheaders,¡± Cortes said. ¡°You just want to go as deep as possible every time.¡±

Those rough numbers looked too familiar for Cortes¡¯ taste, considering he¡¯d hardly been ¡°nasty¡± over the past five starts. Coming into the White Sox assignment, Cortes had allowed 24 runs over his last 23 1/3 innings (9.26 ERA), including 19 extra-base hits.

¡°As bad as it¡¯s seemed for me, I felt like it was one inning or one pitch or one at-bat that got me off,¡± Cortes said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to come through that fifth inning; I know I¡¯ve thrown four innings a bunch of times. It¡¯s been that one pitch or that one at-bat where I got the base hit or the bleeder, the hard hit or the homer that hasn¡¯t allowed me to go more into games.¡±

Even with Cortes correcting course, Boone had to navigate the final six outs cautiously. Mark Leiter Jr. allowed a run-scoring single to Luis Robert Jr. in a bumpy eighth inning, and Tommy Kahnle permitted two hits to open the ninth, prompting the hurler to kick a garbage can in the dugout.

Summoned for his first career save, Jake Cousins sealed the victory in the ninth, pinning the bases loaded.

¡°It was a ton of fun. I grew up 45 minutes from here,¡± said Cousins, a product of Park Ridge, Ill. ¡°I have a ton of family [coming to the games] this week. Getting the first save here at home in front of family is really special.¡±