Anderson’s grand slam humbles Yankees again
WHITE SOX 5
YANKEES 2
NEW YORK — Ravaged by injuries, the New York Yankees hardly resemble the 100-win team that set a major- league record for homers last year.
And even though it’s very early in the season, they are frittering away games during a favorable portion of their schedule.
Tim Anderson hit his first career grand slam and Carlos Rodon pitched the Chicago White Sox to a 5-2 victory over the scuffling Yankees on Sunday. New York is 3-6 at home against the Orioles, Tigers and White Sox — all projected also-rans that lost at least 98 games last year.
“It’s frustrating to lose two out of three to a team that we should probably beat,” first baseman Luke Voit said. “I think a lot of us just need to get out of our heads and go back to playing Yankee baseball the right way.”
On deck for New York, a visit from the World Series champion Boston Red Sox in the first meeting this season between the longtime rivals. Both are off to surprisingly slow starts.
“Anytime a team comes into Yankee Stadium, they’re going to give you their ‘A’ game. We’ve noticed that,” right fielder Aaron Judge said. “We’ve just got to make sure we match that every single game. People are coming after us, so we’ve got to keep the intensity up and just play our game.”
Jose Abreu nearly had a grand slam as well — to almost the same spot in the ballpark — but settled for a
sacrifice fly when Judge made a jumping catch in front of the wall. Held to one hit Saturday in a 4-0 loss, Chicago chased Masahiro Tanaka with nobody out in the fifth and won for only the second time in eight games.
Yoan Moncada had three hits and a walk for the White Sox, who stole five bases in the last five innings — several of them uncontested. Chicago won two of three to take consecutive series in the Bronx for the first time since 2002-03. Before last August, the White Sox hadn’t captured a series at Yankee Stadium since 2005.
With the Yankees (6-9) missing five dangerous regulars from their lineup, Judge did all he could in this one. He scored on Voit’s double, lined an RBI single
and threw out Moncada trying for a two-base hit. New York handed Tanaka
(1-1) an early 2-0 lead, but he unraveled in the fourth and fifth as the Yankees lost their fifth in six games.
Tanaka had trouble with his splitter.
“It wasn’t coming out of my hand right, and not just today,” he said through a translator. “Definitely need to make some adjustments so it’s an effective pitch.”
Rodon (2-2) allowed three hits in six innings and struck out five, improving to
3-0 in three starts at Yankee Stadium. He retired his final
11 batters after a visit from pitching coach Don Cooper.
Four relievers finished a four-hitter, with Alex Colome getting three quick outs for his third save.
“I found a groove after the third,” Rodon said. “This is a playoff club, the Yankees are. I think this is a good series win for us..”