Yankees 7, White Sox 5: Blown lead wraps up bad week for bullpen

The White Sox finished up their agonizing six-game road trip on Sunday, falling to the Yankees 7-5 to bring their record on the trip to 2-4.

1. After getting Aroldis Chapman back from suspension for domestic violence earlier this week, the Yankees have been able to deploy their three-headed monster of Andrew Miller, Dellin Bentances, and Chapman for the first time in this series. After striking out eight times in 11 PAs yesterday against the trio, the Sox jumped on Bentances immediately in the seventh, resulting in three-straight hits and a run before the tall right-hander recorded an out. Bentances settled down, however, and the Yankees took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a Chase Headley RBI double to the wall and never relinquished it again.
2. Miguel Gonzalez showed off both why the Orioles cut him and why the White Sox took a flyer on him Sunday, flashing a good splitter and a newfound cutter early on but losing his command after a trip through the lineup, resulting in a 4.2 IP performance of three earned runs and a ghastly five walks. As soon as Gonzalez’s command dropped a smidge, he was either missing the plate or right down the middle, and actually was lucky that long fly balls with home run distance from Mark Teixeira and Didi Gregorius hooked foul.
3. The White Sox also ended a club-record 12 game errorless streak with gaffes by Brett Lawrie and Alex Avila in late-game situations. Lawrie’s error hurt particularly, as it extended the Yankee half of the sixth to Carlos Beltran, who deposited his 400^th career home run in the left field bleachers against Zach Duke to take a 5-4 lead.
4. The struggles of the White Sox bullpen continued, as they coughed up four runs (three earned) in 3.1 IP. Three of those came on monstrous home runs- the aforementioned Beltran blast allowed by Duke, and a solo home run by Brian McCann in the eighth to give Chapman more runs than he needed.
5. The White Sox return home to face the Houston Astros on Tuesday after tomorrow’s day off. They send Carlos Rodon, Mat Latos, and Chris Sale against a scuffling Astros team. Despite their poor road trip, their division lead sits at 5 over the second-place Indians and 5.5 over the third-place Royals. The White Sox will play 11 straight games against Cleveland and Kansas City after wrapping up their series against Houston.

Team Record: 24-14

Next game is Tuesday vs. Houston at 7:10pm CT on WPWR

Lead Image Credit: Anthony Gruppuso // USA Today Sports Images