Aroldis Chapman surrenders walk-off as White Sox snap Yankees’ win streak
Chapman #Chapman
CHICAGO — The Yankees don’t lose to the White Sox often, but when they do, it’s in dramatic fashion.
Aroldis Chapman gave up Luis Robert’s game-winning single to right that scored Tim Anderson with one out in the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees had their five-game winning streak snapped in a 3-2 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field.
It was just the Yankees’ second loss in their last 11 games to the White Sox. The other was the Field of Dreams game in Iowa last year, which ended with an Anderson homer.
Anderson singled off Chapman with one out. Chapman then walked Yoan Moncada before Robert ended it.
The Yankees had their best chances late in the game.
With the White Sox up 2-1, Joey Gallo led off the ninth with a walk against Liam Hendriks, who had entered in the eighth to bail out Joe Kelly.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a single to right, sending Gallo to third.
Luis Robert celebrates after his walk-off single. Getty Images Luis Robert is showered after the White Sox beat the Yankees. Getty Images
With Kyle Higashioka at the plate, Kiner-Falefa stole second. Higashioka hit a sacrifice fly to left, which scored Gallo to tie the score, but Kiner-Falefa was thrown out trying to advance to third for the second out.
To start the eighth, the White Sox, leading 2-0, went to Kelly, who had been torched him for five runs by the Yankees on Thursday.
Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo singled with one out and Giancarlo Stanton followed with a run-scoring single to left to make it 2-1.
Stanton was replaced by pinch-runner Aaron Hicks and Kelly was yanked in favor of Hendriks, looking for his first five-out save of the season.
Aroldis Chapman reacts during the Yankees’ loss to the White Sox. AP
With Josh Donaldson at the plate, Rizzo stole third to put runners on the corners. Donaldson, however, went down swinging for the second out.
Then came Gleyber Torres, who has had plenty of big hits lately. But after Hicks swiped second, Torres also went down swinging on a 98 mph four-seamer.
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The Yankees waited until after starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery left the game to start scoring runs.
Through his first six starts, Montgomery received just 2.33 runs per game of support, a full run less than anyone else in the Yankees’ rotation. The closest is Nestor Cortes, at 3.83.
The Yankees have scored more than three runs for Montgomery just once this season. It was more of the same on Saturday against Dallas Keuchel, the lefty who has tormented the Yankees throughout his career.
Keuchel, who entered the game with a 2.23 ERA in nine career starts against the Yankees, came into the game with a 6.86 ERA this year. That was skewed somewhat by a one-inning disaster against the Guardians on April 20, when Keuchel allowed seven earned runs.
Keuchel threw five scoreless innings on Saturday.
Montgomery was shaky from the start. Anderson led off the bottom of the first with a single and moved to second on a grounder by Moncada. Robert ripped a shot just foul before his single to center scored Anderson to give Chicago a 1-0 lead in a 26-pitch inning.
Jordan Montgomery reacts during the Yankees’ loss to the White Sox. AP
Stanton, who had homered in the three previous games, opened the top of the second with a double down the first-base line. He moved to third on a fly ball by Torres, but after Gallo walked, Kiner-Falefa flied out to center.
Montgomery and the Yankees fell further behind when Moncada hit a leadoff homer to center in the bottom of the third.
Stanton was stranded at second in the fourth inning after he had singled and advanced on a wild pitch.
Montgomery’s struggles continued in the bottom of the fourth.
The lefty, who hadn’t walked a batter in his previous three starts or the first three innings Saturday, allowed back-to-back walks to Adam Engel and Josh Harrison with one out in the fourth.
Following a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Montgomery got Anderson to hit into an inning-ending double play to keep it a 2-0 game.
Kiner-Falefa singled with one out in the fifth and DJ LeMahieu and Judge drew two-out walks, setting up Rizzo with the bases loaded.
But Rizzo, with just five hits and a pair of RBIs in his previous 40 plate appearances, grounded out to second to end the threat.