The sky cleared up enough for the Chicago White Sox to resume their series with the New York Yankees.
Instead of the haze the smoke from Canadian wildfires created, there were plenty of longballs during Game 1 of the doubleheader Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
The Sox hit four home runs on their way to their fifth straight win, beating the Yankees 6-5.
“Home runs were the name of the game,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.
Eloy Jiménez put them ahead with a two-run homer off Michael King in the seventh.
“(I thought) ‘Just bring (Luis) Robert (Jr.) to home plate,’ ” Jiménez said. “Thank God I did.”
Jake Burger, Robert and Yoán Moncada homered earlier for the Sox, who moved within three games of first place in the American League Central with the victory.
The teams played two Thursday after Major League Baseball postponed Wednesday’s game because of what it called “clearly hazardous air quality.”
Burger lined a two-run homer to left field in the second inning, his second homer in three pitches stretching to Sunday’s game-ending grand slam against the Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees responded with two two-out runs in the second, getting an RBI double from Kyle Higashioka and an RBI single from Willie Calhoun to tie the game.
The Sox showed more power in the third. Robert began the inning with a long homer to center, his team-leading 14th. With one out, Moncada homered to right. It was the third baseman’s third homer of the season and first since April 2.
The Yankees got involved in the home run derby in the fourth as Calhoun followed a Higashioka single with a homer to tie the game at 4.
The Yankees took the lead for the first time in the fifth on a two-out RBI single from Oswaldo Cabrera.
Sox starter Lance Lynn allowed five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
“It was frustrating because it could have been way better,” Lynn said. “You had some quick outs and you’re right where you want to be and the next thing you give up a couple runs with two (outs). It was just one of those things where once I thought I was in a rhythm, something happened.
“But all in all, stuff is all right, physically I feel good. It’s just about making pitches and getting out of innings without giving up runs.”
The offense picked him up, with Robert beginning the seventh with a double and Jiménez following with the homer to right-center.
“The offense was able to bail me out today,” Lynn said. “I gave up a lot of runs with two outs. I have to be better with two outs than I was today. It could have been a different ballgame for me but the offense came back and the bullpen did a hell of a job at the end.
“You’re going to have days like that where, for me as a starter I didn’t do my job but the offense and bullpen did their job and you can still win games. I didn’t have to be perfect. That’s how you go on a little run is when you win games that aren’t perfect and today was one of those games.”
Relivers Gregory Santos, Joe Kelly, Reynaldo López and Kendall Graveman each pitched scoreless innings. The first two batters reached in the ninth against Graveman. He got Gleyber Torres to pop out to first baseman Andrew Vaughn and Anthony Rizzo to ground into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.
“Just never panics,” Grifol said of Graveman. “This guy comes in and pounds the strike zone, makes good pitches when he has to.”
The final play was reviewed, checking to see if shortstop Tim Anderson remained on second for the first portion of the double play, and upheld.
“Sometimes the angles they show on the board are not the angles these guys got at headquarters,” Grifol said. “There was another angle we felt really good about that the call was going to stand.”
Yankees recognize Liam Hendriks
Before the game, the Yankees recognized Sox closer Liam Hendriks and his return from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, donating $10,000 to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in his honor. Hendriks announced he was matching the donation.
“I had no idea,” Hendriks said. “They said they were donating in my name and it was not what I expected but I’m extremely thankful. It shows the class of the organization that they would even think about doing something like that.
“There was no hesitation for me saying I’m going to match it. That’s who my wife and I are. Totally unexpected. I keep using the words extremely emotional but it was emotional and something I didn’t expect. It was something that goes a long way.”
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