Two things the White Sox can say after two abysmal showings at Yankee Stadium:
- They're still tied for first in the AL Central.
- They only have one more game to play in Yankee Stadium this year.
Otherwise, they're left to hope they can avoid a sweep Thursday night. Failing that, the goal is to escape from New York with everybody intact after losing Sean Newcomb and Everson Pereira to impact injuries, the severity of which has yet to be determined.
Anthony Kay absorbed some early blows to last four innings, which felt like a minor triumph since Carlos Rodón also labored, and while a rested Newcomb looked like a good option for some middle-inning length, the Yankees got to him, too.
First, they tagged him for a couple of soft hits in the form of a single and a double that put runners on second and third. Unimpressive contact finally found a glove in the form of a Jazz Chisholm popout, but Jose Caballero restarted the party by floating a two-run single to right that made it a 6-3 game.
Anthony Volpe then stung Newcomb with a 98.6 mph off Newcomb's left triceps, and while it was good for forceout at second and a near double play, Newcomb had to leave the game with a contusion. Tyler Davis entered the game and ran straight into the woodchipper. First he gave up the fourth soft hit to right field to turn the lineup over, and then Paul Goldschmidt redirected a seemingly well-located up-and-away fastball over the right field wall for a three-run homer that put the game away.
It looked like could've been a laugher early when Kay fell behind 4-0 after two innings. He gave up a cheap two-run shot to Cody Bellinger on a decent pitch after retiring the first two batters of the first. He then plunked a batter with one out in the second, followed by a Volpe RBI triple and an Ali Sánchez single.
Colson Montgomery was able to make it a game in the third. He lost a 12-pitch battle to Rodón in the first inning, but the looks paid off in the third. He came to the plate with two on and two outs after Miguel Vargas was rung up looking at three pitches, the last of which was below the zone, but Montgomery made it moot. He fell behind 0-2 like Vargas, but when Rodón's putaway slider dangled over the outer third of the plate, Montgomery extended his arms and hoisted a fly over the right field wall for a three-run shot to make it a one-run game.
That's as close as the White Sox got, but some White Sox were able to pad stats in defeat. Edgar Quero had a three-hit game to raise his average to .197, Montgomery added a second homer off Paul Blackburn in the eighth, Sam Antonacci cranked a high sinker out to right field some 422 feet away in the ninth. That gave the White Sox the same amount of homers as the Yankees, but they couldn't quite stack their other hits in the same way.
Bullet points:
*Pereira crashed into the left center field fence flagging down a two-out drive in the seventh. He lay down on the warning track for a minute before leaving the field under his own power, but Tristan Peters replaced him. So much of Pereira's person hit the wall -- and then crumpled onto the track -- in concerning ways, but Pereira said after the game that his head hurt him more than anything. A concussion evaluation had yet to be completed.
*Trevor Richards gave up a solo shot in the seventh, but weathered scary contact to record his 11th game finished in 14 appearances for the White Sox.
*Quero overturned a 2-2 slider into a strike three for Kay to start the second, but then he immediately challenged the first pitch to Caballero with one out and nobody on. Not only was it a low-leverage situation, but he was wrong by a considerable margin, which took a challenge away from hitters who needed them.
*The White Sox successfully deployed the drawn-in infield in the third, as Luisangel Acuña was able to smother a one-out grounder to keep Jasson Domínguez at third and help Kay record the first of two scoreless innings.
*Brandon Eisert can feel good about himself for throwing a perfect sixth inning, striking out two. Every other pitcher was scored upon.
