CHICAGO -- While the baseball world was buzzing with the Yankees’ move to acquire veteran slugger Edwin Encarnacion from the Mariners, back at Guaranteed Rate Field, the team looked to avoid dropping its fourth consecutive game.

After playing poorly Friday, the Yankees needed to come out like a team that knew it needed to be better, and New York did just that in Saturday night’s 8-4 victory over the White Sox.

With the Yankees’ starting rotation in flux and Domingo Germán and Luis Severino on the injured list, it’s forced New York’s healthy starters to not only eat innings, but carry a larger load.

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But the starters have not been the only ones who have had to adjust. It’s also forced reliever Chad Green into a new role as well.

Green has become a de facto starter as the Yankees joined baseball’s growing trend of using an opener. While his previous four starts yielded mixed reviews, his two innings in Saturday’s game set the tone.

Green’s stuff was electric as he struck out six of the seven batters he faced, mixing both his slider and fastball, which touched 99 mph during his outing.

“Felt good today. I’ve been trying to command the fastball more and the slider played off of it pretty well,” Green said. “Just trying to give hitters a second look [with the slider]. Guys are interested in throwing one pitch up here -- it normally doesn’t go too well.”

“He was terrific. Lighting up the radar gun, too,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He was real crisp. I thought his slider was good to the right-handed hitters, which made his fastball play even more.”

After Green’s two innings of dominance, it was recently recalled left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr.'s turn to carry the torch, and he followed Green with a stellar outing of his own.

Cortes held the White Sox to two runs over his five-plus innings of work, striking out a career-high seven batters and earning his first Major League win in the process.

“The first few times, I was a little nervous, just trying to get my feet wet. Obviously, I’m more confident putting zeros up,” Cortes said. “I talk to myself on the mound, just saying, ‘Make a pitch, make a pitch,’ and not worry about the strikeout.”

“It's tough with the opener, especially a guy like that, he comes out throwing 98. It's a guy that's pitched at the back end of the game. And then they bring in a lefty,” White Sox catcher James McCann said. “Tip your cap to him, he threw the ball extremely well tonight. We had some frustrating at-bats, but overall he made his pitches. There weren't a lot of mistakes thrown tonight, and we obviously weren't able to take advantage of mistakes that weren't there."

The offense also showed up in support of Green and Cortes. After struggling to push across runs Friday, the Yankees were able to get to White Sox starter Reynaldo Lopez.

A four-run fourth inning started the team’s offensive attack.

Gary Sánchez, who through two games vs. Chicago had gone 0-for-6 with three strikeouts, got the Yankees on the board with a two-run double. Gleyber Torres' two-run shot later in the inning gave New York a 4-0 lead before it tacked on in the later innings.

"I was commanding my pitches. I was locating my pitches where I wanted,” Lopez said. “It was just a bad inning. I don’t know how Torres hit that homer, because that was a good pitch. That was a good changeup, and he was able to hit it. I tip my cap to him."

With a lineup that is going to get two of its best hitters in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton back soon and just added another bat to the mix with Encarnacion, this will not be the last time an opposing pitcher is left scratching his head after facing the Yankees.

When asked by reporters if there was room for another experienced power bat in his lineup, Boone could only chuckle with his response.

“There’s always room for good players,” he said with a smile. “Good question, though.”