CHICAGO – The Yankees caught a break Saturday night when Lenyn Sosa missed, by inches along the rightfield line, dropping in a game-winning hit in the 10th inning.
There was no such break Sunday.
After Tim Hill retired the first two batters of the eighth inning, Sosa clobbered a 1-and-2 sinker well over the wall in center, the home run snapping a tie and sending the Yankees to a 3-2 loss in front of 27,810 at Rate Field that ended their seven-game winning streak.
The Yankees (76-61) fell three games behind the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East and saw the Red Sox crawl within a half-game for the league’s top wild-card spot. After an off-day Monday, the Yankees start a three-game series at Minute Maid Park against the Astros, regular season and postseason nemesis like none other the last decade.
The Yankees, who outscored the White Sox (49-88) 25-9 the first three games of the series, including Saturday night’s 5-3 victory in 11 innings, went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position Sunday and stranded 10.
Trent Grisham led off the ninth against lefthander Cam Booser with a walk but righthander Mike Vasil came in and retired Paul Goldschmidt on a long fly ball to center and Aaron Judge on a soft fly to center. With Cody Bellinger up, Grisham stole second but Vasil struck out the Yankees’ outfielder looking to end it.
Their offense was limited to Judge’s 43rd home run of the season and back-to-back doubles by the DH and Bellinger in the third inning. Judge, who had hits in his first three at-bats, went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Luis Gil, making his sixth start, was mostly very good, allowing two runs, four hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings in which he struck out seven. White Sox lefthander Martin Perez allowed two runs, five hits and two walks over six innings in which he struck out seven.
The Yankees took an early lead.
After Goldschmidt struck out to start the game, Judge hammered an 0-and-2 pitch 426 feet to left-center for a 1-0 lead. The blast gave Judge 358 career homers, tying him with Yogi Berra for fifth on the franchise’s all-time list.
After recording two quick outs in the bottom half, Sosa singled sharply to left but Colson Montgomery fouled out to catcher Ben Rice to end the eight-pitch inning.
Perez made quick work of the Yankees in a 12-pitch second, striking out two of three batters.
The White Sox tied it on the bottom half. Curtis Mead lined a 2-and-2 slider into the corner in left and Will Robertson lasered a fastball over the head of Jose Caballero for a double that made it 1-1.
Judge helped the Yankees untie it in the third. He crushed a full-count sinker off the top of the wall in center, narrowly missing his second homer in as many at-bats but instead settling for his 28th double of the season. Bellinger then roped an RBI double to right to make it 2-1. Giancarlo Stanton, starting his third game of the series in right, then poked what looked like off the bat would be his 18th homer of the season but rightfielder Mike Tauchman, a former Yankee, brought the ball back with a leaping catch at the wall for the third out.
The White Sox threatened in the bottom half, an odd inning in which Gil would strike out three. He struck out Tauchman swinging to start the inning, but Rice failed to catch the third-strike slider, and the batter reached on a passed ball. Gil walked Kyle Teel but would end up stranding the runners. Sosa hit a bullet but right at second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the first out, and Gil struck out Montgomery swinging at a 96-mph fastball and Edgar Quero swinging at a 95-mph fastball, giving the pitcher four strikeouts through three.
He continued to cruise until one out in the sixth when Montgomery caught a 1-and-2 slider flush and hit it off the yellow line atop the wall in center, the shortstop’s 15th homer tying it at 2-2. After Gil walked Quero, Aaron Boone brought in Fernando Cruz, who got Mead to hit into a 3-6 double play.
Erik Boland started in Newsday’s sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.