White Sox win two out of three at Yankee Stadium

Tim Anderson

The New York Yankees have almost a full team of guys on the injured list: Luis Severino, Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar, Dellin Betances, Aaron Hicks, Troy Tulowitzki and Jacoby Ellsbury.

There are a few others, too, but those are names that most people know.

Not that anyone is going to feel sorry for the Yankees. Coming into the weekend, I was thinking it was a good time for the White Sox to play New York, just because of all those injuries.

On the other side, however, I'm sure Yankees fans were thinking this was a good time to play the Sox, who entered this series on a five-game losing streak.

Turns out, it was a good time for the Sox to play the Yankees. They won two out of three games and improved to 5-9 on the season. Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, April 12
White Sox 9, Yankees 6 (7 innings): This rain-shortened game will be remembered because Eloy Jimenez hit his first two home runs in the major leagues. Jimenez's first home run, a two-run blast in the top of the fifth inning, capped a four-run rally and put the Sox ahead to stay at 7-5.

If Jimenez has the career that Sox fans hope he does, Yankees reliever Jonathan Holder becomes the answer to a trivia question -- he gave up the first home run in Jimenez's career.

Yonder Alonso also homered as part of that fifth inning, and Jimenez and James McCann hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning off Chad Green to cap the scoring. The rain came before the Yankees had a chance to bat in the bottom of the inning, and when the game was called, most Sox fans probably breathed a sigh of relief knowing the bullpen wouldn't be asked to protect a three-run lead.

Lucas Giolito (2-1) gave up four runs in the first two innings to put the Sox in an early hole, but he hung around long enough for the offense to rally and give him a win. Giolito gave up six runs, four earned, on six hits. He struck out six and walked four.

Saturday, April 13
Yankees 4, White Sox 0: CC Sabathia is retiring after this season, and not a moment too soon for Sox fans. He's 19-7 in his career against the South Siders, and although he did not get the win on this day, Sox batters had no answer for him.

Sabathia worked five innings and allowed only one hit -- a single by Jose Rondon -- and combined on a one-hitter with three Yankees relievers.

Ivan Nova (0-2) got stuck with a loss because second baseman Yolmer Sanchez didn't catch a routine grounder. Nova held the Yankees off the board through six innings, before giving up a leadoff single to Gleybor Torres in the bottom of the seventh.

Jace Fry relieved Nova and got the ground ball the Sox needed off the bat of Greg Bird. It should have been a double play, but Sanchez kicked it, and the Sox got no outs. Instead of two out, nobody on, the Yankees had first and second with nobody out.

I always say, when the opposition hits you a double-play ball and you make an error and get no outs, that's going to lead to a crooked number against. Sure enough, the Yankees went on to score three runs in that seventh inning. Ballgame.

Sunday, April 14
White Sox 5, Yankees 2: I heard most of this game on the radio, because I had to take my better half to Midway Airport in the middle of a freak April snowstorm. Thank goodness the Sox were on the road this weekend, right? And they secured a series win behind a grand slam from Tim Anderson and a quality start from Carlos Rodon.

Rodon scuffled early, giving up single runs in both the first and third innings. Both runners that came around to score reached on walks, but the left-hander recovered to give up nothing through the middle innings. In fact, the Yankees had only one hit after the third inning in this game.

The final line for Rodon (2-2): 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 Ks, 2 BBs.

The Sox got to Masahiro Tanaka (1-1) the second time through the batting order. Jose Abreu doubled with one out in the fourth inning. Alonso and Jimenez walked, and that set the table for Anderson, who lined an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field for a grand slam and 4-2 Sox lead.

Abreu's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning added a run, and the pitching did the rest. Fry, Nate Jones, Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome combined for three innings of scoreless relief. Colome worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save in as many chances.

The Sox now come back to snowy Chicago for a brief three-game homestand. A series against the Kansas City Royals is set to begin Monday night.