Liam Hendriks finally pitched the ninth inning of a tie game on the road for the White Sox.
I thought I was more specific in my request that he start that inning, instead of inheriting the bases loaded with one out and Aaron Judge at the plate. I'll have to review my paperwork.
Anyway, Hendriks walked Judge on five pitches, even though Judge spotted him a strike by going around on a head-high pitch to start the at-bat. The Yankees sealed a sweep with a shrimp, and the White Sox will return from a 2-4 road trip tending to some wounded pride.
If they want to spin it positively, they can blame themselves for this loss. Three of the Yankees' five runs crossed the plate courtesy of White Sox errors, and another one resulted in part to managerial stubbornness. The White Sox offense was shut down by another ordinary righty (Jameson Taillon) through five innings, but rediscovered the home run swing to cut down margins of 3-0 and 4-2.
The bottom of the ninth overshadowed the top of the ninth, which once again featured Andrew Vaughn vs. Aroldis Chapman, but this time with a startlingly opposite result. Two days after grounding into a triple play to bail Chapman out of a burgeoning rally, Vaughn entered as a pinch hitter for Adam Eaton with one out and blasted an opposite-field solo shot well out to right center to tie the game.
The White Sox sustained pressure afterward, with Yasmani Grandal walking and a pinch-running Danny Mendick advancing on a wild pitch. Alas, Leury García grounded out, and Nick Madrigal looked at two knee-high fastballs over the plate before being called for an unchecked swing on a sinker in the dirt, and so it went to the ninth.
For the second time in three days, Tony La Russa stuck with the guy who had pitched a scoreless eighth, even though Aaron Bummer had to survive Gleyber Torres' thwarted steal attempt of third, which erased a leadoff single and run-scoring opportunity. It ended up working just as poorly as Evan Marshall on Friday, although this one took a little longer.
Clint Frazier led off with a single through the middle, then stole second on Brett Gardner's strikeout. La Russa then came out to the mount, but only to discuss intentionally walking DJ LeMahieu, which they did with first base open. The idea was to keep Bummer to face lefty Tyler Wade, but Wade foiled the plot with a chopper that was as effective as a drag bunt, reaching first base before Madrigal could complete a flip.
That's when La Russa called for Hendriks, who hadn't pitched since Wednesday, and only faced a total of seven batters since May 14. He didn't throw a competitive pitch, and the walk ended the game.
Two other mistakes dug other holes. In the first, Dallas Keuchel booted the second of a pair of soft comebackers to start the game, which extended the inning long enough to set up a two-run single by Torres. Both runs were unearned, but Keuchel trailed 2-0 nevertheless.
In the sixth, José Ruiz was tasked with keeping the deficit at one and the endeavor got off to a shaky start with a leadoff walk, lineout and a single through the left side. Ruiz then won a battle with Brett Gardner by getting a chopper to the first base side of the mound. Ruiz handled it, and made a prompt flip to second. Tim Anderson crossed the bag and made a quick fling to first in hopes of getting the still-somewhat-speedy Gardner. The throw was high and wide, José Abreu tried holding the bag when even a catchable ball might not have completed the double play, and the ball glanced off his mitt and into the dugout for a run-scoring effort.
That said, the White Sox were able to dig deep in other innings, and almost offset the mistakes.
In the fifth, Marshall inherited his own bases-loaded situation from Keuchel, who counted on a more generous strike zone from Jim Reynolds than he received. He faced three batters and retired none of them, allowing a single and two walks.
Marshall couldn't strand all of them, but he recorded two outs while facing only three batters, getting Gio Urshela to ground into a 5-4-3 double play before rallying from a 2-0 count to freeze Torres with full-count changeup. New York's lead grew from 2-0 to 3-0, but it could've been so much worse.
Once Taillon departed the game after allowing just five baserunners over five scoreless innings, the White Sox offense could finally get to work. In the latest example of his stellar plate discipline, Yoán Moncada worked a one-out walk from Wandy Peralta on eight pitches, and Abreu followed with a 450-rocket out to left center to make it a 3-2 game.
Chad Green ended up finishing that inning, but Grandal foiled his attempt to start the seventh, hoisting a full-count, eighth-pitch fastball into the first row of Yankee Stadium's short porch to make it a 4-3 game. Vaughn then added the Sox's third homer in the ninth, setting up a better story that couldn't quite be finished.
Bullet points:
*Yermín Mercedes ducked into a Taillon curve and took it off the helmet, but remained in the game after the scare.
*Codi Heuer threw the kind of inning we'd like to see from him, pitching a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts on 11 pitches.
*Grandal now has a baserunner kill to his name by cutting down Torres, who was initially ruled safe. The call was overturned after a review by one of Yankee Stadium's great close-up camera angles.
*The White Sox have lost three games in a row for the first time all year.
