This time, after going great guns for over a week, the bats failed us. ChiSox starter Miguel Gonzalez didn't allow a baserunner until Starlin Castro beat out a grounder to short to lead off the bottom of the 5th inning, and he was subsequently erased on Aaron Judge grounding into 6-4-3 double play. Another leadoff infield single came from Austin Romine in the 6th, but he was stranded. Yet another came in the 7th, as Jacoby Ellsbury bunted his way on, but Matt Holliday grounded into a double play to short-circuit that rally. And for 8 innings, those were the only Yankee baserunners.
Luis Severino started for the Yankees, and pitched 6 innings, allowing only 1 run. He struck out 10 and didn't walk a batter over 8 innings. But he allowed 3 runs in the 7th inning. For once, Joe Girardi stuck with my advice, and left a pitcher who was cruising in, and it didn't work. Jonathan Holder pitched a perfect 9th, but it was 4-0 Pale Hose going to the bottom of the inning.
Gonzalez was still pitching. Chase Headley hit a leadoff single, and reached 2nd on a throwing error. Chris Carter flew to right for the 1st out. Brett Gardner drew a walk, and manager Rick Renteria finally pulled Gonzalez.
He brought in David Robertson, the former Yankee closer. I hoped it would be the 2010 version of D-Rob, which wasn't so good, rather than the 2014 version, which was a solid closer. And he walked Ellsbury to load the bases with just 1 out.
But Holliday struck out. Castro drew a walk to force home a run. But that was all we got, as Judge grounded to short to end the game on a fielder's choice.
White Sox 4, Yankees 1. WP: Gonzalez (2-0). SV: Robertson (4). LP: Severino (1-1).
The Yankees are now 9-5, in a 3-way tie for 1st place in the American League East. The Boston Red Sox are also 9-5. The Baltimore Orioles, with 2 games in hand on each, are 8-4, so while it's a tie in terms of games behind, percentage-wise, the O's lead. Still, no AL team has more wins than the Yankees. The Houston Astros also have 9 wins. In the National League, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks each have 10, while the Cincinnati Reds also have 9.
The Mets? They're at .500, 7-7, or 2 games behind the Yankees. At this pace, the Yankees will win 104 games, the Mets 81.
Yeah, that whole "We're gonna take back New York" thing? That's over.
The series concludes tonight at 7:05. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Dylan Covey. Come on you Pinstripes!