Andrew Benintendi’s pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning lifted the surprising Chicago White Sox to a 5-1 win over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night.
White Sox manager Will Venable began the eighth with another pinch-hitter, substituting Sam Antonacci for Luisangel Acuña to get a left-handed bat against Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz. Cruz left a fastball in the high middle of the strike zone and Antonacci lashed it for a double.
Venable then brought another left-handed bat off the bench with Jacob Gonzalez hitting for Junior Perez. Yankees manager Aaron Boone countered with left-handed reliever Tim Hill. That backfired when Hill tried to pitch Gonzalez inside to prevent him from laying down a bunt, but hit him instead.
The same thing happened when Tristan Peters attempted to bunt the runners over, but Hill hit him with a pitch. Hill looked as if he might avoid maximum damage when he got Chase Meidroth to strike out on a high fastball.
Camilo Doval took over to pitch for the Yankees, but Venable used one more left-handed bat from his bench, pinch-hitting Benintendi for Randal Grichuk. Doval threw what appeared to be a good pitch, aiming for a sinker inside. But Benintendi was ready for it, turning perfectly and cranking it into the right-field seats for a grand slam.
Doval got the remaining two outs to finish the inning, allowing a single to Colson Montgomery (who batted 2-for-3 with a second-inning home run), but the damage was done.
White Sox pitcher Sean Burke then retired six of the final seven Yankees hitters he faced, allowing only a Paul Goldschmidt single, and striking out Jasson Domínguez to end the game. Burke pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run and 5 hits with 8 strikeouts. He took over for opener Bryan Hudson, who pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings.
With the win, the White Sox stay tied for first place in the AL Central with the Cleveland Guardians, who defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2, on Thursday.
Ryan McMahon accounted for the Yankees’ lone run with a solo homer off Burke in the third inning, his eighth of the season.
The Yankees also lost Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fourth inning after hitting a foul ball that ricocheted off home plate into a delicate area. All his teammates could do in the dugout was laugh, perhaps knowing that the second baseman might not have been wearing the proper equipment to guard against such a foul ball. There was no word after the game as to Chisholm’s status.
The Yankees’ bullpen squandered a strong start from Ryan Weathers, who allowed only 1 run and 3 hits over 6 1/3 innings with 8 strikeouts. It was a needed bounce-back for the right-hander, who had given up a combined 16 runs and 18 hits in his past three starts.
Thursday’s defeat cost the Yankees a half-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East. They still lead Tampa Bay by three games.
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