Tagged: Alexei Ramirez
Drew’s 4 RBIs Leads Assault As Nova Tames Chisox
GAME 104
YANKEES 12, WHITE SOX 3
The past two seasons the offense for the New York Yankees struggled to score even three runs a game because injuries decimated the roster. The 2015 version is healthy and – as the Chicago White Sox found out on Sunday – they are firing on all cylinders.
Stephen Drew drove in four runs and Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Teixeira each homered to back a strong six innings from right-hander Ivan Nova as New York captured the rubber game of weekend series at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Yankees put the game out of reach by scoring five runs in the fourth and three runs in fifth against right-hander Jeff Samardzija (8-6), who ended up leaving in the fifth inning in what was his shortest outing of the season.
The stage was set when Ellsbury led off the game with his fourth home run of the season to give the Nova (4-3) and the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.
The Yankees turned the game into a rout starting with what looked to be a routine popup in shallow center by Brian McCann that became a single that dropped between three White Sox fielders with one out in the fourth inning.
Carlos Beltran followed by drawing a walk and Chase Headley hit a lined single to right to load the bases. Didi Gregorius then looped a two-run, opposite-field single to left.
Drew singled to reload the bases and Ellsbury hit a sacrifice fly that scored Headley and Brett Gardner rolled a two-run single to center to extend the lead to 6-0.
Teixeira opened the fifth by launching his 29th home run of the season and his third in the weekend series.
Later in the inning, after two were out, Samardzjia finally succumbed to the 100-degree heat and a rising pitch count by hitting Headley with a pitch and walking Gregorius.
White Sox manager Robin Ventura replaced Samardzjia with right-hander Scott Carroll and Drew greeted him with a two-run double to left.
Samardzjia was charged with a season-high nine runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Nova, meanwhile, was able to hold the White Sox down despite coming off an outing in which he left after five innings with arm fatigue.
Nova kept the White Sox off the board until the sixth, when Adam Eaton drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a groundout by Jose Abreu. He then scored on a two-out single by Melky Cabrera.
Nova yielded just the one run on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings.
The Yankees scored three more runs off Carroll in the seventh on a two-run triple by Drew and an RBI groundout by Ellsbury.
In their past three victories, the Yankees have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 46-14.
The victory improves the Yankees’ season record to 59-45 and they hold a six-game lead over both the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. The White Sox dropped to 50-53.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Drew is doing a great job of recreating the Phoenix rising from the ashes. He was 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, two runs scored and three RBIs on Sunday. Drew has lost playing time this season to Gregorio Petit, Jose Pirela, Rob Refsnyder and Brendan Ryan and seemed destined to be released by the team. But he lately has been hitting the ball well as a platoon second baseman. On July 22, Drew was hitting .179. Since that time, he is 11-for-31 (.355) with a homer and seven RBIs. That has raised his season average to .199.
- The bottom of the order did the most damage to the White Sox with Headley batting seventh, Gregorius eighth and Drew ninth. That trio combined for seven of the 11 hits, eight of the 12 runs scored and seven of the 12 RBIs. Pitchers are finding out lately that those supposed soft spots in the batting order are no longer there. Samardzija expended so much energy dodging Alex Rodriguez, Teixeira, McCann and Beltran that the bottom of the order ended being his downfall.
- Nova bounced back nicely after leaving his last start after just 75 pitches due to concerns about his arm after undergoing Tommy John surgery last season. Nova has now won his past three starts and he has a 2.65 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 17 innings in that span. With Michael Pineda on the disabled list, it is good to see Nova begin to start to get a good groove going heading down the stretch.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
Normally reliable left-hander Chasen Shreve gave up a pair of solo home runs to Alexei Ramirez and Geovany Soto in the seventh inning but the Yankees were already leading 12-1. Other than that there was nothing to say about this victory. The offense is just devastating and it is carrying this team for the first time in three seasons.
BOMBER BANTER
The Yankees placed rookie right-hander Diego Moreno on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday due to discomfort in his right elbow. Moreno, 28, was impressive in throwing 5 1/3 innings of scoreless and hitless relief against the Texas Rangers last week to win in his Major-League debut. However, he was tagged for four runs in three innings in an 8-2 loss to the White Sox on Saturday. He reported the discomfort to the Yankees on Sunday and he is scheduled to visit Dr. Christopher Ahmad in New York on Monday. The Yankees recalled right-hander Branden Pinder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Moreno’s place on the roster.
ON DECK
The Yankees will try to keep their bats hot despite a day off on Monday before opening up a three-game home series with the Boston Red Flops on Tuesday.
Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (7-4, 3.80 ERA) will open the series of the Yankees. Tanaka gave up four runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts in a loss to the Rangers on Wednesday.
The last-place Red Flops will have left-hander Henry Owens make his Major-League debut against the Yankees. Owens, 23, is 3-8 with a 3.16 ERA in 21 starts at Triple-A Pawtucket this season. The only reason he is pitching is because the Red Flops are now 13 games out and in last place in the division. So much for the pundits who predicted they would win the division. Hah!
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.
Ellsbury Homer Rallies Yanks Past Chisox In 10
GAME 48
YANKEES 4, WHITE SOX 3 (10 INNINGS)
The Yankees seemed to have developed a pattern of looking absolutely helpless at the plate until the opponent’s starter leaves the game. Then they tie up the game on the team’s closer and later win it in extra innings. For the second time in four days in Chicago that is exactly what they did.
Jacoby Ellsbury stroked a one-out single and later scored as part of a three-run rally in the ninth to tie the game and then blasted a two-out solo home run in the top of the 10th as New York got off the deck to defeat Chicago on Saturday in front of a paid crowd of 33,413 at U.S. Cellular Field.
For eight innings the Yankees could do little with left-hander John Danks, who held them to a two-out double by Mark Teixeira in the fourth and a pair of two-out singles by John Ryan Murphy and Brendan Ryan in the eighth. Danks did not walk a batter and struck out four.
The White Sox offense, meanwhile, scored all three of their runs in the first inning off left-hander Vidal Nuno on singles by Adam Eaton and Gordon Beckham, an RBI double by Dayan Viciedo, a sacrifice fly by Adam Dunn and an RBI groundout off the bat of Alexei Ramirez.
Nuno, however, settled down and held the Chisox to no runs on six hits and one walk while fanning five over the next 6 2/3 innings.
Dellin Betances (3-0) pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to earn the victory in relief. David Robertson, who was victimized by a single by Viciedo and two-run home run by Dunn in the bottom of the ninth on Friday to blow his first save of the season, gave up a single but struck out the side in the bottom of the inning for his 10th save in 11 chances.
After White Sox closer Ronald Belisario gave up the one-out single to Ellsbury in the ninth, he struck out Teixeira. But Alfonso Soriano laced an opposite-field double to left that scored Ellsbury.
With the Yankees down their last strike, Yangervis Solarte followed with opposite-field RBI single to left, Ichiro Suzuki walked and pinch-hitter Brian McCann scored Kelly Johnson, who was pinch-running for Solarte, with a looping single into left-center.
White Sox right-hander Zach Putnam (2-1) came on in the ninth and retired Brett Gardner on a strikeout and Derek Jeter on a groundout. However, Ellsbury laid into a 1-0 splitter and drove the ball just over the wall in right-field for only his second home run of the season in what proved to be the eventual game-winning hit.
Four days ago, the Yankees were shut out on four hits and two walks in seven innings by Cubs right-hander Jeff Samardzjia at Wrigley Field only to rally for two runs in the top of the ninth off Cubs closer Hector Rondon. They later scored two runs in the 13th inning on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Murphy and ended up winning the game.
The victory on Saturday halted an embarrassing nine-game losing streak for the Yankees at U.S. Cellular Field that dated back to the 2012 season.
Perhaps the game-changing play occurred in the bottom of the second inning after Nuno had given up three runs in the first inning. Marcus Semien led off the frame with a single and Adrian Nieto followed with a lined single into right.
Suzuki fielded the ball and threw towards third as Semien rounded second. But Jeter cut the throw off and ran towards Nieto, who had rounded first base too far. Jeter shuffled a toss back to Ryan. Nieto changed course, ran around Ryan and was called safe by second-base umpire Tom Woodring ash e touched the base.
However, the base umpires conferred with crew chief Jeff Nelson and reversed the call, saying that Nieto had run out of the baseline to avoid the tag of Ryan.
White Sox manager Robin Ventura came storming out of the dugout to protest the call but he ended up being ejected from the game by Woodring.
With Semien at third and one out, Nuno then fanned Leury Garcia and he escaped any further damage by getting Eaton on a flyout.
The Yankees ran their season record to 25-23. They are second place in the American League East, two games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays. The White Sox fell to 25-26.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- After breaking a dreadful 1-for-27 slide with two late hits against the Cubs in the 13-inning game on Wednesday, Ellsbury promptly went through an 0-for-11 skid before singling in the ninth and homering in the 10th on Saturday. It is hard to say that Ellsbury’s slump is over. But after his average hit a peak of .346 on May 3 he is now hitting .263. He needs to get it going again because the Yankees feed off his ability to get on base and to steal bases.
- McCann is another guy who has underachieved with the bat this season. After hitting a three-run home run in the first inning in Friday’s game, McCann came back with a very important pinch-hit, two-out RBI single to tie the game in the ninth. Though McCann is hitting just .227, he is third on the team in RBIs behind Teixeira and Solarte, who are tied with 25 apiece.
- Betances recorded two more strikeouts in his one inning of relief to give him 49 Ks in just 28 1/3 innings. The 26-year-old right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA and batters are hitting a lowly .153 off him this season. It is safe to say that Betances is becoming what the Yankees had hoped Joba Chamberlain would become eventually. Eventually never did come for Joba.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Danks, 29, is a decent veteran pitcher but he has not recorded double-digit victories or posted an ERA below 4.33 since 2010. He also entered this game with a 3-4 record and a 5.64 ERA. So why were the Yankees able to get only one hit in seven innings and three in eight innings? You can understand why they would struggle against Samardzjia and Chris Sale but not Danks. There is no excuse.
- Gardner and Jeter, who were batting in the first two spots of the batting order, respectively, ended the day a combined 0-for-10 with a strikeout (Gardner), a weak popup and three weak grounders. It is hard to get an offense going when those two are struggling to get on base.
- I was all ready to give up on Nuno after he yielded three runs and five hits to the first eight batters. But he retired 17 of the next 20 batters he faced and he held the White Sox to three runs in order to give the Yankees a chance to tie it in the ninth. Nuno is 1-1 with a 4.38 ERA in his seven starts this season. Given the current state of the Yankees’ rotation, the Yankees still need him.
BOMBER BANTER
Brian Roberts did not play in Saturday’s game due to a bruised knee he sustained fouling a ball of his right knee in the fourth inning of Friday’s game. Roberts stayed in the game but was replaced at second base in the ninth inning by Ryan. Ryan played in his place on Saturday and he was 1-for-4 with a run scored. Manager Joe Girardi told reporters that the injury was not serious and Roberts was available to pinch-hit on Saturday. . . . Jeter on Saturday passed Luis Aparacio for second place on the all-time games played list at shortstop by playing in his 2,584th game. Jeter also became the all-time leader in games played at the position in the American League. Omar Vizquel is the all-time major-league leader at shortstop with 2,709 games. The Yankees have only 115 games left so Jeter, who has announced this will be his last season, will not have a chance to pass Vizquel.
ON DECK
The Yankees will try to earn a split of the four-game weekend series with Chisox on Sunday.
Masahiro Tanaka (6-1, 2.39 ERA) will try to bounce back after his first major-league loss on Tuesday. He yielded four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk in six innings to the Cubs, who won 6-1.
The White Sox will start right-hander Andre Rienzo (4-0, 4.00 ERA). Rienzo held the Kansas City Royals to two runs on five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in six innings in a victory on Monday.
Game-time will be 2:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by the YES Network.
Rivera Halts Late Rally As Yankees Sweep Chisox
GAME 139
YANKEES 6, WHITE SOX 5
If Yankees manager Joe Girardi wants to have a conversation after the season with Mariano Rivera just to make sure he really wants to retire who could blame him. The 43-year-old future Hall-of Fame closer has shown no signs of his age or lost an of his effectiveness.
Rivera came with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning on Wednesday and “Mo’ed” down all four batters he faced for a rare four-out save to propel New York to a three-game sweep of Chicago in front of a paid Yankee Stadium crowd of 36,082.
The Yankees actually were cruising with a 6-1 lead behind CC Sabathia in the top of the eighth when Girardi pulled him with Alexei Ramirez on second and Paul Konerko on first after he singled with one out.
Little did Girardi and the Yankees realize that the usually reliable David Robertson would have a meltdown that allowed the White Sox to climb back into the game.
Avisail Gracia greeted Roberston with an RBI single to left to score Ramirez and, one out later, Dayan Viciedo drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.
Josh Phegley followed with a two-run single to left and Marcus Semien, who was making his major-league debut, ripped an RBI single up the middle to bring the Chisox to within a run of the Yankees and send Robertson to the dugout.
Rivera came on to strike out Alejandro De Aza looking to shut the rally down and he then pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 41st save in 46 opportunities this season.
Sabathia (13=11) pitched 7 1/3 string innings to run his career record against the White Sox to 19-4. He gave up three runs on five hits and four walks while he struck four in his longest outing since Aug. 7.
Other than the two runs, Sabathia was charged with in the eighth, he only gave up a single run in the first inning when Garcia stroked a two-out, opposite-field double to drive in Gordon Beckham, who had drawn a one-out walk.
The Yankees, however, tied it with two out in the bottom of the first when Robinson Cano blasted his 26th home run of the season to right-field off right-hander Erik Johnson, who was also making his major-league debut.
The Yankees added four runs in the fourth inning off Johnson (0-1) as Alex Rodriguez led off with a lined single to center and Ichiro Suzuki reached first when Johnson’s throw to first base pulled Jeff Keppinger off the bag for an error.
Lyle Overbay followed with an RBI single and, one out later, Brett Gardner laced a two-run triple off the wall in left-center. Cano then capped the inning by driving in his 91st run of the year by scoring Gardner on a sharp comebacker off Johnson that was scored as an infield single.
Johnson, 22, was charged with five runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks while he fanned one batter in six innings. That one batter was Suzuki, who struck out with the bases loaded and two out in the first inning.
The Yankees added what looked to be just another tack on run in the seventh inning off right-hander Daniel Webb, who was the third player for the White Sox who was making his major-league debut.
Derek Jeter drew a leadoff walk and Cano advanced him to third with a lined single to right for his third hit of the night.
Alfonso Soriano then scored Jeter with a sacrifice fly to deep right for his 91st RBI of the season and his 40th in just 37 games with the Yankees. That run actually ended up being the margin of victory for the Yankees, who managed a home sweep of the Chisox after they swept the Yankees in a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field a month ago.
With the victory the Yankees improved to 75-64 and they remain in third place in the American League East eight games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. However, they are just 2 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for a wild-card spot. The last-place White Sox fell to 56-82, assuring them a season below .500.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Cano is red-hot at the plate at just the right time for the Yankees’ playoff push. He was 3-for-4 on Wednesday with a pair of singles, a home run, a run scored and two RBIs. Since Aug. 2, Cano is 42-for-117 (.359) with five home runs and 21 RBIs. Soriano is providing him with a lot of protection in the cleanup spot and he is getting better pitches to hit as a result.
- Gardner has also been on fire of late. He was 2-for-4 with a single, a triple, a run scored and two RBIs on the night. In his past nine games, Gardner is 12-for-35 (.343) with six doubles and a triple, eight runs scored and four RBIs. His triple on Wednesday was his eighth of the season, which is a career high.
- Sabathia actually pitched creditably after going through a stretch in which his ERA was an incredible 7.33 in his past nine starts. Sabathia has managed to win four his past five starts but he has been getting by with more run support than he received earlier in the season. The Yankees are hoping he can turn in a very good September to get the team into the playoffs.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Robertson’s outing was very jarring because he was rocked for two runs on three hits and a walk in just one-third of an inning. Robertson had only given up one earned run over his past 29 1/3 innings covering 17 appearances since June 19. Considering his season ERA is still 1.88 after his outing on Wednesday I doubt Girardi will lose sleep over it.
- Suzuki was 0-for-4 and did allow Johnson to escape a bases-loaded jam in the first when he struck out on a pitch that actually bounced in the batter’s box at his feet. He did not get a ball out of the infield and he is just 1-for-9 in his past four games and is hitting just .182 in his past 10 games.
BOMBER BANTER
Girardi dropped a bombshell when he announced on Wednesday that right-hander Phil Hughes has been shifted from the starting rotation to the bullpen in favor of left-hander David Huff. Hughes, 27, is 4-13 with a 4.86 ERA in 26 starts this season. He has lost 11 of his past 13 decisions and he has a 6.12 ERA since August. Huff, 29, has compiled a 2-0 record with 1.13 ERA in 16 innings covering seven appearances with the Yankees, most of them in long relief. Huff is scheduled to pitch in Saturday’s game against the Red Sox as part of the four-game home weekend series. . . . Right-hander Ivan Nova was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for August on Wednesday. Nova, 26, was 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his six starts and he is coming off his first major-league complete-game shutout in his last start against the Orioles on Saturday.
ON DECK
The Yankees’ hopes to win the A.L. East hinge on their four-game weekend series with the Red Sox that starts on Thursday.
Nova (8-4, 2.88 ERA) will be starting for the Yankees and he is the team’s hottest pitcher of late. Nova held the Orioles to three hits, walked one and struck out five batters in what was his most dominant start of the season. Nova is 2-2 with a 4.85 ERA in his career against the Bosox.
Nova will be opposed by right-hander Jake Peavy (3-1, 3.18 ERA). Peavy held the White Sox to two runs on five hits and a walk in seven innings to win his last start on Saturday. However, Peavy has had no luck against the Yankees. He is 0-4 with a 3.86 ERA lifetime against them.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.
No Sale! Yanks Cash In 5 Late Runs To Sink Chisox
GAME 138
YANKEES 6, WHITE SOX 4
Through 7 1/3 innings on Tuesday the White Sox were sailing along behind left-hander Chris Sale and boasting a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 edge. But the wind got let out of their “Sale” and the Yankees got off the poop deck for an epic, exciting come-from-behind victory that kept their playoff hopes alive.
Curtis Granderson stroked a one-out, pinch-hit RBI single off left-hander Donnie Veal and, one out later, Eduardo Nunez laced a two-run double off right-hander Matt Lindstrom to cap a five-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning as New York stunned Chicago in front of a raucous paid Yankee Stadium crowd of 33,215.
Sale, a two-time American League All-Star, had held the Yankees to an unearned run on only three hits through 7 1/3 innings until Derek Jeter slapped a 0-1 pitch into center that ignited the miracle comeback. Robinson Cano followed by lining a 1-2 pitch off the base of the left-field wall for a double to advance Jeter to third and chase Sale from the game.
White Sox manager Robin Ventura replaced Sale with right-hander Nate Jones and trade-deadline sensation Alfonso Soriano greeted Jones by lofting a 0-2 slider into center-field to score Jeter and Cano. Alex Rodriguez followed with a single to center on a 3-2 slider to advance Soriano to third.
Ventura replaced Jones with Veal and Granderson, batting in place of Vernon Wells, lined a 3-1 pitch into center to score Soriano with the tying run.
After Veal struck out Mark Reynolds on a 3-2 fastball, Ventura brought in his third reliever of the inning in Lindstrom to face Nunez.
Nunez then slapped a 1-1 fastball down the left-field line to score Rodriguez and Granderson as what was left of the huge throng stood on its feet and cheered as if the Yankees already had clinched a playoff spot. Nunez stood at second base and raised both arms to celebrate his heroic hit.
Mariano Rivera came in the ninth to earn his 40th save with a perfect frame, striking out two batters and punctuating the grand evening with a called strike three on pinch-hitter Leury Garcia.
Boone Logan (5-2) pitched a perfect eighth in relief to earn the victory. Jones (4-5) took the loss.
The game was very much a pitchers’ duel between the Chisox ace, Sale, and Yankee right-hander Hiroki Kuroda.
The White Sox opened the scoring in the first inning when Gordon Beckham blasted a one-out double off the left-field wall and Alexei Ramirez then reached on a fielding error at short by Nunez.
Adam Dunn then singled to center to score Beckham.
The Yankees resorted to some rare base-running trickery to score the tying run in the second inning.
Wells singled up the middle and advanced to second on an error by Beckham when the second baseman kicked the ball into left-field. One out later, Nunez reached first on a fielding error by third baseman Conor Gillaspie allowing Wells to move to third.
With two out, Yankees manager Joe Girardi rolled the dice and had Nunez break for second and stop midway between first and second base. When catcher Josh Phegley threw the ball to Beckham at second base, Wells broke for home and he slid in ahead of the return throw to Phegley from Beckham.
But the White Sox reclaimed the lead in the fifth off Kuroda when Alejandro De Aza singled and stole second. Beckham then drew a walk on 11 pitches. Ramirez scored by De Aza and Beckham with a triple into the left-field corner.
De Aza padded the lead to 4-1 with one out in the seventh inning when he cranked a solo homer into the short porch in right-field. That also ended Kuroda’s evening.
Kuroda was charged with four runs on seven hits and two walks while he fanned seven in 6 1/3 innings.
Sales yielded three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk while he struck out six in 7 1/3 innings.
The victory improved the Yankees’ season ledger to 74-64 and kept them within eight games of the first-place Boston Red Sox in the American League East. However, the Baltimore Orioles lost to the Cleveland Indians, which allowed the Yankees to move back ahead of the O’s in third place in the division.
The Yankees also have climbed to within two games of the slumping Tampa Bay Rays for a wild-card playoff spot.
The White Sox, who have gave up eight runs in the fifth inning to the Yankees on Monday and five runs in the eighth inning to the Yankees on Tuesday, are now 56-81.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- The only reason Nunez was in the game at shortstop was because with Sale on the mound Girardi elected to insert Jeter as the designated hitter and have Nunez play shortstop to get seven right-handed hitters into the lineup. Despite his fielding error in the first, Nunez was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a stolen base and two RBIs in the game. Nunez was hitting a paltry .219 on Aug. 6 but he is 25-for-75 (.333) with a home run and 13 RBIs since then. He also has raised his season average to .255.
- Soriano’s amazing run at the plate since he was acquired by the Yankees on July 26 continued on Tuesday. He was just 1-for-4 but that single drove in two huge runs in the eighth inning that drew the Yankees to within a run of the Chisox. Soriano is hitting .261 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs in his 35 games back in pinstripes.
- Jeter entered the game with just four hits in his past 27 at-bats. He responded by going 2-for-3 and a run scored on Tuesday. In his two games against the Chisox, Jeter is 4-for-7 (.571) with two runs scored and two RBIs. The Yankees also took note that Jeter seems to be running much better on his formerly fractured left ankle.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
The Yankees can’t be happy with Kuroda’s recent pitching slump, which continued on Tuesday. But they have to be pleased that the team mustered the wherewithal to put together that amazing eighth-inning rally when they so desperately needed a victory to keep pace for a wild-card spot. The Yankees snatched victory out the jaws of defeat and this one possibly may carry them for the next few days.
BOMBER BANTER
Jeter’s hit in the eight inning was the 3,315th of his career and moved him ahead of Eddie Collins in ninth place on the all-time hits list. . . . Wells’ steal of home in the second inning on Tuesday was the first of his career and it was the Yankees’ first since Mark Teixeira pulled it off against the Oakland Athletics on June 1, 2011 on an attempted pickoff throw by catcher Kurt Suzuki on Rodriguez at first base.
ON DECK
The Yankees can repay the Chisox for their sweep of the Yankees last month in Chicago with a sweep of them on Wednesday.
Left-hander CC Sabathia (12-11, 4.91 ERA) will start for the Yankees. Sabathia gave up five runs for the sixth time in his past nine starts on Friday against the Orioles but he still was able to win the game. He is 18-4 with a 3.64 ERA in the past 10 seasons against the White Sox.
The White Sox will start right-handed rookie Erik Johnson, who will be making his major-league debut. Johnson was a combined 12-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 24 starts at Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. Johnson is 23 years old and he is rated as the team’s No. 2 prospect by MLB.com.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.
Yanks’ 8-Run Deluge In 4th Drowns Hapless Chisox
GAME 136
YANKEES 9, WHITE SOX1
They had to be wondering when – or even if – it was ever going to stop. What started out as a just a trickle became a torrent and there was nothing but dark angry clouds overhead.
I am not talking about the paid Yankee Stadium crowd of 40,125 that had to brave a one-hour and 53-minute rain delay and halted the game with one out in the top of the second inning. I am speaking about the Chicago White Sox during the Yankees’ eight-run bottom of the fourth inning as 13 batters came to the plate in a frame that took 32 minutes to play.
New York rode that eight-run explosion – the team’s largest run total of any inning this season – to a comfortable thrashing of last-place Chicago in a Labor Day matinee.
The Yankees began the inning with a 1-0 lead with which Derek Jeter had staked them on an RBI single following a leadoff double by Brett Gardner off left-hander Jose Quintana (7-5) in the bottom of the first.
Alex Rodriguez opened the fourth with a double off right-hander Dylan Axelrod, who replaced Quintana after the rain delay in the bottom of the second. Vernon Wells then reached on an infield single and Curtis Granderson drew a walk to load the bases.
Mark Reynolds opened the scoring with an infield single that scored Rodriguez. Austin Romine followed with a two-run single to center and Gardner stroked his second double of the day to score Reynolds and advance Romine to third.
Jeter scored Romine on an infield roller to third and, one out later, Alfonso Soriano laced an RBI double to left to score Gardner and advance Jeter to third.
After Rodriguez walked to reload the bases, White Sox manager Robin Ventura lifted Axelrod in favor of right-hander Jeff Petricka.
Wells grounded into what appeared to be a routine inning-ending double-play ball to Adam Dunn at first. However, Dunn’s toss to second base was behind shortstop Alexei Ramirez, which allowed Jeter and Soriano to score and left Rodriguez safe on the error at second.
That gave the Yankees a 9-0 lead over a White Sox team that had swept them in a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago from Aug. 5-7.
Veteran left-hander David Huff (2-0) relieved starter Phil Hughes after the rain delay with one out in the second inning and pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-run baseball to gain credit for the victory.
Paul Konerko connected for a solo home run – his 10th of the season – with one out in the seventh to account for the only run for the Chisox.
Huff yielded five hits, walked none and fanned three batters to pick up his second victory with the Yankees.
Axelrod, on the other hand, was shelled for eight runs (six earned) on eight hits and two walks and struck one in 2 1/3 innings.
The victory improved the Yankees’ season record to 73-64 and they are eight games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox in fourth place in the American League East. However, the Yankees are just three games back in the wild-card standings. The White Sox fell to 58-80.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Jeter entered the game hitting .167 in the 11 games in which he played this season. But Jeter broke through by going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. Jeter also looked good advancing to third on a fly ball to right off the bat of Robinson Cano in the first inning. Jeter’s two hits raised his season average to .196.
- Gardner was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. In his past four games, Gardner is 7-for-17 (.412) with five doubles, five runs scored and two RBIs. The hot streak has raised Gardner’s season average to .273 and he has eight homers and 45 RBIs out of the leadoff spot.
- Huff, 29, has been excellent since he was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 16. In his five appearances, Huff has given up just one run on six hits and a walk while striking out 10 batters in 16 innings of work. That is an ERA of 0.56 and a WHIP of 0.43. If Hughes loses his starting spot it most definitely will be given to the left-hander.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
After Sunday’s disastrous bullpen meltdown and after being swept this same White Sox team a month ago, it was good to see the Yankees put the game away early. The Yankees can’t afford to let teams think they still have a chance to win when they have a lead. They nailed the door shut and got the White Sox to give up early. I have nothing critical to say.
BOMBER BANTER
After being called up and being sent down five times in a 10-day period, Preston Claiborne was recalled – likely for the rest of the season – from Class-A Tampa on Monday by the Yankees. The Yankees now have 31 players on their expanded September roster, including 11 relief pitchers. Claiborne, 25, is 0-1 with a 2.78 ERA in 37 appearances with the Yankees this season. . . . Left-hander Cesar Cabral and catcher J.R. Murphy both made their major-league debuts on Monday for the Yankees and Murphy’s insertion into the game as pinch-hitter in the eighth inning for Robinson Cano set an all-time record for the Yankees when they used their 52nd player of the season. Murphy, 22, collected his first major-league hit in that pinch-hitting appearance, drilling a hot shot to third that was scored an infield hit. Meanwhile, Cabral, 24, pitched a scoreless eighth inning, giving up one hit and striking out two batters. Cabral, a left-hander, missed all of the 2012 season after suffering a stress fracture in his left elbow in his final appearance of spring training.
ON DECK
The Yankees will continue their three-game series with the White Sox on Tuesday.
Hiroki Kuroda (11-10, 2.89 ERA) will get the nod for the Yankees. The 39-year-old right-hander has been blasted for 12 runs in his past two outings and needs to get back to his previous form for the Yankees to have a shot of winning a playoff spot. Kuroda is 2-2 with a 2.86 ERA in his career against the Chisox.
The White Sox will counter with left-hander Chris Sale (10-12, 2.99 ERA). Sale set a franchise record with his fourth start of 12 strikeouts or more in a victory over the Houston Astros. He has a personal high of 193 strikeouts for the season. He is 2-0 with 0.49 ERA in his career against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.
CC Notches 16th Win By Unraveling Chisox
GAME 107
YANKEES 3, WHITE SOX 2
There is an old baseball axiom that states the best way to measure a great pitcher is not when he is pitching at his best but how effective he can be pitching without his good stuff. Never was that old saying more true than on Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.
CC Sabathia was handed an early 3-0 lead and he had to finesse and reach deep into his arsenal to pitch eight innings and win a major league-best 16th game as New York edged Chicago to bring them within one game of the Boston Red Sox in the American League East.
Sabathia (16-5) was touched for two runs on 10 hits and he walked none and struck out six over eight innings. Alexei Ramirez accounted for the two runs in the fourth when he followed a leadoff infield single by Juan Pierre with line drive home run deep into the left-field bleachers for his 10th home run of the season.
Protecting that slim one-run lead over the next four innings proved difficult because the White Sox put a total of six base-runners on during that stretch. However, Sabathia wriggled off the hook each time.
In the fifth, the White Sox had runners on first and second with no outs but Sabathia induced a popup from Brent Lillibridge and Brent Morel lined into a double play. In the sixth, Ramirez cracked a one-out double but Sabathia got Carlos Quentin on a flyout and he struck out Adam Dunn swinging for the second time. In the seventh, A.J. Pierzynski stroked a one-out double and one out later Lillibridge reached on an infield single. Sabathia ended the inning by getting Morel to fly out.
In the eighth, Quentin reached on a two-out single. But Sabathia closed out his night by striking out Dunn swinging for the third time.
Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the victory for his 28th save of the season, which ties Tigers hotdog closer Jose Valverde for the American League lead in saves.
The Yankees scored two runs early off White Sox starter Jake Peavy (4-5).
Brett Gardner opened the game with an infield single and he scored on Curtis Granderson’s double into the right-field corner. One out later, Robinson Cano sliced a ball past Dunn at first and into right-field to score Granderson and the Yankees led 2-0.
They added a run in the third inning after Granderson doubled and Mark Teixeira followed with single to right to move Granderson to third. Cano hit into a double play but Granderson scored from third and Peavy got tough the rest of the way, limiting the Yankees to just two hits and a walk over the next four innings.
But the Yankees’ ace left-hander and their Hall-of-Fame closer managed to shut down the White Sox as well.
With the victory the Yankees are a season-high 23 games over .500 at 65-42. They also now have won four games in a row and, by virtue of the Red Sox’ 9-5 loss to Cleveland, they have drawn to within one game of Boston in the division despite the fact that the Red Sox recorded their best July record in their history. The White Sox fell to 52-55.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Granderson hit two doubles and scored two more runs as he continues to make a joke out of the runs scored category. He has a major league-best 94 runs scored, which leads Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury by 13. Taking into account his 28 home runs and 79 RBIs and his excellent play in center-field this season, he is becoming a bone fide MVP candidate.
- Sabathia may have given up 10 hits and he only had one 1-2-3 inning (the first) in the game), but he showed his mettle by buckling down whenever the White Sox mounted a threat. Sabathia is now 9-1 since June 14 and he lowered his season ERA to 2.55, which is fourth in the American League.
- Rivera looked especially sharp in recording his 28th save. He needed only nine pitches to retire the White Sox in order in the ninth. Rivera lowered his season ERA to 1.74 and he now has 587 career saves, 14 away from tying Trevor Hoffman for the top spot.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Cano may have singled in a run in the first inning but in his next three at-bats he grounded into a pair of double plays and struck out swinging. After his five-hit night against the Orioles on Saturday, Cano is 1-for-6.
- Nick Swisher also struggled, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and he did not get a ball out of the infield. After his 3-for-6 night on Saturday, Swisher is 1-for-7.
- Francisco Cervelli was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts looking.
BOMBER BANTER
Derek Jeter did not play on Monday because of bruise on his right middle finger. Jeter was struck on the knuckle on a pitch from Orioles right-hander Jake Arrieta in the third inning of Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium. Jeter was removed from the game in the fourth inning and X-rays taken later showed no broken bones. Manager Joe Girardi said the injury does not appear to be serious and Jeter should be able to play on Tuesday. . . . The Yankees have elected to keep Ivan Nova on the roster and he is scheduled to pitch the finale of the four-game series against the White Sox on Thursday. Nova (9-4, 4.01 ERA) may actually be auditioning for the No. 5 spot in the rotation against right-hander Phil Hughes, who has not pitched well since his return form the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. If Nova pitches another good game, Hughes may be shifted to the bullpen. . . . Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to begin baseball-related workouts at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa, FL, on Thursday. There is no date for his return but the Yankees believe he could be ready by the second week of August. Rodriguez has been on the disabled list since undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee on July 11. . . . Brian Cashman told reporters on Monday that he was not upset the Yankees were unable to make deal for pitching and a bench player. Cashman said teams were looking at the Yankees’ most prized minor-league prospects and Cashman said he would rather keep them for what was being offered in return.
ON DECK
The Yankees will continue their four-game road series with the White Sox on Tuesday and it will be an important day for Phil Hughes.
Hughes (1-3, 8.24 ERA) will be pitching to retain his spot in the rotation. He is 1-2 with a 5.48 ERA in his four starts since coming off the disabled list. He is 1-1 with a 1.00 ERA in his career against the White Sox.
The White Sox will start left-hander John Danks (4-8, 3.79 ERA). Danks has not allowed more than two runs in any of his last five starts. He is 4-0 with 0.86 ERA since June 6. However, lifetime he is 2-2 with a 7.36 ERA against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 8:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.
Bottom of the Ninth 