Entering with the best record in baseball, the New York Yankees looked every bit of the part offensively. But committing two errors and struggles from Jonathan Loáisiga allowed the White Sox an opportunity to tie it late in the seventh inning.
Loáisiga threw a center-cut 99 mph sinker to Yoan Moncada with runners on first and second.
Moncada did not miss, blasting a momentum turning 3-run homer to deep center field, tying the game.
Guaranteed Rate Field was rocking as White Sox fans were hopeful that, unlike on Monday, it would be the South Siders pulling off the late-inning comeback.
Joe Kelly entered the game and got two quick outs to start the eighth inning. Then all hell broke loose as Kelly lost the strike zone. The result was three straight walks with New York's heavy hitters coming to bat.
When Kelly faced DJ LeMahieu, Tanner Banks was warming up in the bullpen. The assumption was that if the inning got to Anthony Rizzo, it would be Banks pitching to him. The downside with that scenario was New York would have the lead.
Sure enough, a squibbler from Aaron Judge was just right to beat it out for an infield single. Smart baserunning by Gleybor Torres as he didn't stop running on the play and scored. The grounder that didn't leave the infield plated two runs, and the White Sox were down 9-7.
Now it's Rizzo's turn to bat, and Kelly's pitch count was at 25. I figured this would be the situation La Russa had planned to bring in a lefty hoping to keep it a two-run game.
Nope. La Russa allowed Kelly to face Rizzo, and he promptly walked him on four straight pitches.
Bases loaded again, and Giancarlo Stanton stepped up, who had already hit two homers in the game off Dylan Cease. This was the situation when La Russa called for Banks to replace Kelly.
Not surprisingly, Stanton won the platoon advantage, lacing a single to center and scoring two more runs. Because of the three batter minimum rule, Banks had to face Josh Donaldson. The nemesis that Donaldson is buried the White Sox for good with a monster three-run homer.
That's how a 7-7 game with two outs in the top of the eighth inning becomes 14-7. Most of the White Sox crowd left after Donaldson's home run, and they missed the Yankees scoring another run in the ninth to win 15-7.
Lost in the eighth inning shuffle was Cease's odd night. He lost both battles to Stanton and had difficulty getting LeMahieu out as Cease allowed six runs in four innings of work. However, Cease struck out 11 batters. His final line was 4 IP 6 H 6 ER 2 BB 11 K.
Game Notes:
- AJ Pollock had a good night going 2-for-3 with an RBI. He's now hitting .210 for the season.
- White Sox were down 2-0 in the second inning. Leury Garcia put them ahead with a two-run single on his way to a multi-hit night. Garcia is now hitting above the Mendoza line at .203
- After allowing nine runs in the six-game winning streak, the White Sox have allowed 28 runs in their last three games with 21 of them coming after the seventh inning.
Record: 15-15 | Box Score
