GRAY SKIES CLEAR UP
Sonny delivers in relief as Yanks top Chisox in 13
Maybe the Yankees have finally found a spot for Sonny Gray.
The struggling and oftbooed starter was dominant in a huge late-inning bullpen role Tuesday night, and Miguel Andujar delivered with a two-out single in the 13th inning to give the Yankees a 4-3 victory over the White Sox.
The emergence of Gray in a long relief role is a welcome sight for the Yankees, especially after Lance Lynn proved a capable addition to the rotation in Gray’s place on Monday. Gray took over after Zach Britton blew the save in the 10th and threw three scoreless innings, striking out four and allowing just one hit.
Still, the Bombers have to be coming away from the vic- tory with at least a little bit of worry about newcomer Zach Britton, who gave up a two-run home run to Jose Abreu with two outs in the 10th. That’s after fire-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman’s meltdown on Sunday night against the Red Sox, too.
Giancarlo Stanton had given the Yankees a two-run lead in the top of the 10th with an opposite-field home run, getting revenge on the White Sox after striking out badly against position player Matt Davidson on Monday night. He went down to get the pitch from Chicago reliever Tyler Danish and broke open the tie with his 26th round tripper of the season.
After going just three innings in his previous start, a 15-7 shellacking against the Red Sox, CC Sabathia stepped up on Tuesday as well, baffling the White Sox hitters at every turn. He went 5.2 innings, striking out 12 and allowing just four hits and one run. The dozen Ks caused Sabathia’s pitch count to rise quickly, though, and he left the game with two outs in the sixth at 103 pitches after giving up a ground-rule double to Ryan LaMarre.
The Yankees did little to back Sabathia, though, not scoring until the seventh inning on Andujar’s 15th home run of the season. Again they were thwarted by Chicago center fielder Adam Engel, a repeat offender who robbed Kyle Higashioka of a home run in the fifth inning a night after doing the same to Greg Bird.
Engel one-upped himself in bringing back Higashioka’s home run, because he mistimed his jump and was still able to get enough air to reach over the fence. The web gem also preserved what was at the time a no-hitter for White Sox starter Reynaldo Lopez, who gave his teammate a bear hug outside the dugout during the next half inning.
Aaron Hicks broke up Lopez’s no-hitter in the sixth inning with a leadoff groundrule double that bounced just out of the reach of left fielder LaMarre. Giancarlo Stanton followed with an infield single with Hicks baiting the third baseman into a late throw to first. But with first and third and nobody out, the Bombers could not come through. Didi Gregorius popped out before Gleyber Torres flew out to shallow center, and Bird went around on an offspeed pitch in the dirt to strand two.
Though the Yankees left nine runners on base and were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, it took one clutch swing from Andujar to get the Bombers one game closer to a much-needed sweep of the White Sox.