Andrew Vaughn smacked a two-run home run and made a game-saving defensive play to boost the host Chicago White Sox to a 5-1 win against the New York Yankees on Monday night.
Chicago stretched its winning streak to three while sending the Yankees to their third loss in four games.
The Yankees went 1-for-12 with men in scoring position while leaving 13 runners on base. New York fell 5 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final American League wild-card spot.
Vaughn connected against Yankees starter Gerrit Cole with one out in the second inning for the only offense the White Sox would need. He had two of Chicago’s six hits on the night.
Luis Robert Jr. punctuated a three-run eighth with a two-run double.
Chicago pitching stranded the bases loaded twice. Starter Dylan Cease opened the second inning by walking the first three hitters he faced. He then induced a pair of flyouts to left field before making an athletic play to retire Jake Bauers on a slow roller.
Bauers was robbed of potential extra bases in the sixth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Vaughn dove to stop a grounder down the first-base line, then raced to beat Bauers to the bag with a sliding play.
That preserved a 2-0 lead and a scoreless outing for Cease, who exited after yielding his lone hit of the night, a DJ LeMahieu single with one out in the sixth. Cease (5-5) scattered seven walks and six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings while throwing 58 of his 104 pitches for strikes.
Chicago’s relief corps delivered 3 2/3 innings of one-run ball. Bryan Shaw pitched two scoreless innings for the save.
Cole pitched seven-plus innings. He fell to 10-3 after spacing four runs and five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Billy McKinney drove in the Yankees’ run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Aaron Judge had two hits.
White Sox bench coach Charlie Montoyo managed the game in place of Pedro Grifol, who served a one-game suspension for his role in Saturday’s benches-clearing brawl at Cleveland. Shortstop Tim Anderson was in the starting lineup upon appealing his six-game suspension for fighting the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez. Anderson later left the game with a bruised left forearm.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
–Field Level Media
