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.