CHICAGO – Eroldis Chapman got one out on Saturday night and then everything fell apart. Trying to hold off a tie, the Yankees dropped one instead, a batter went and then Louis Robert hit an RBI single on the walk-off as the White Sox beat the Bombers 3-2 at guaranteed rate field.
“It’s a good baseball game out there. Well played for two teams,” Chapman said via Yankees translator Marlon Abreu. “He hit the middle and then walks, things got a little complicated, you gotta give him credit.”
It was the Yankees (24–9)’s first defeat in six games. He has already assured of at least a split four-match series with the White Sox (16-16) and will go on to win his 10th series on Sunday in the series finale. The Yankees fell 2-7 this season when they scored two or fewer runs. This was the first game in the last five matches the Bombers had not scored a home run after scoring 11 runs in their last four matches.
Still, he had a chance to tie at the top of the ninth inning, when Joy Gallo took the lead against Liam Hendrix in the run and moved to third on a single from Isiah Kinner-Falefa. He scored on Kyle Higashioka’s sacrificial fly, but Kenner-Falefa killed the rally by being thrown out at third base on the same play. DJ Lemhieu dismissed to end the innings in a 2-2 draw.
Chapman gives a single to Tim Anderson and then walks Yoan Moncada at full count. Robert’s ground ball single Anthony Rizzo just before diving won it for the White Sox.
Dallas Keuchel closed for five innings as the Yankees scattered four hits. He walked three and hit three. The left-hander has always been a thorn in the side of the Yankees, especially in his time with the Astros. In nine starts against the Bombers, Keuchel had a 2.23 ERA.
The Yankees scoring 25 in the first two games of the series were his chances for the offense. LeMahieu led the game with a single, Giancarlo Stanton led the second with a double, but the Bombers got nothing. In fifth, Keuchel was clearly exhausted, issuing two, two-out walks to load the bases. Rizzo, who has been booed from here after his return to the city he played for a decade, had a chance to break through and was harmlessly out to second base.
After Montgomery and Keuchel were long gone, the White Sox handed the game over to Joe Kelly, who exploded on Thursday night, and the Bombers were able to punch. In the eighth, Aaron Judge lined up a single in center field and Rizzo’s ground ball went past a diving Josh Harrison. Stanton singles out to bring in the Yankees’ first run. Toni La Russa, who let Kelly trap her on Thursday, took her after Stanton’s single. Hendrix hit Donaldson on 98-mph fastball in the zone and went on 99-mph fastball at the same location to beat Gleber Torres and ended the Yankees’ threat.
The lack of offense has become all too common when left-hander Jordan Montgomery takes the mound.
Montgomery started with a support average of just 2.33 runs per nine innings. On Saturday night, however, Montgomery was not as quick as she was in her first five games. He struggled to set up his curveball to keep hitters off his fastball. He got 10 swings and misses, four with changeups and 11 call strikes, five on his sinker.
“I really didn’t have much work to do today. I felt like I honestly had a different time in every shift,” Montgomery said. “I never really got comfortable and [gave up] A lot of walks and deep count, so I couldn’t really attack and rip the ball, but I gave all that I had. ,
He allowed two runs on Robert, an RBI-single and a Moncada home run to advance from third. This was just the third home run he was allowed to play this season. The White Sox gave him six hits, he scored four and scored three. Montgomery faced 87 batsmen for the first time in Adam Engel’s fourth innings, which began in Detroit on April 21.
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