Yankees offense sputters in the haze in loss to woeful White Sox
In a smoke-filled Bronx, the Yankees flamed out.
Playing through a haze brought on by Canadian wildfires wafting south, the Yankees were no-hit for the first six innings of a 3-2 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday to open a homestand poorly.
An announced crowd of 38,049 watched and sometimes coughed through an unhealthy air quality and saw plenty of at-bats that seemed less than quality, too.
“It looked odd out there,” manager Aaron Boone said, “but I didn’t really think about it.”
The Yankees (36-26) played their second straight game without Aaron Judge, who will be placed on the injured list.
Without their captain, an injured Harrison Bader and a resting DJ LeMahieu, the Yankees’ offense was held to three hits.
The third came from Josh Donaldson, who hammered Liam Hendriks’ first pitch of the ninth for a home run to left field.
But the White Sox closer, pitching in his fourth game since winning a battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, bounced back to record his first save of the year.
Seby Zavala hits a two-run homer in the fifth inning, the second of two long balls he hit off Clarke Schmidt in the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the White Sox. Jason Szenes for the New York Post
Clarke Schmidt made two mistakes that went for home runs, which would be the difference on a night the Yankees’ bats seemed more affected by the smoke, particularly against Lucas Giolito.
“We got his pitch count up, a lot of three-ball counts, worked some walks,” Boone said after the veteran righty gave up zero hits in six innings on 100 pitches. “We just weren’t able to ding him at all.”
The Yankees broke through against the White Sox bullpen, with some help from second-rate defense, but their best rally would come up too short.
In the seventh inning, former Red Sox righty Joe Kelly walked Willie Calhoun with two outs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a deep drive to left-center that forced left fielder Andrew Benintendi and center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to converge.
Robert, who could have made the catch, backed off at the last moment, and it dropped for an RBI double.
Jose Trevino followed with a more legitimate hit — a smoked single to right — to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Jake Bauers bounced out to end the threat.
Schmidt was excellent against everyone but a player named Seby Zavala. The No. 9-hitting catcher teed off for two home runs and drove in all of the White Sox’s runs.
The entire rest of the White Sox lineup scratched four singles against Schmidt in 19 at-bats.
Clarke Schmidt reacts after giving up his second homer of the game to Seby Zavala in the Yankees’ loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Schmidt was solid, if not brilliant, for a fourth straight start, this one marred by a couple of misplaced pitches to a light-hitting catcher who entered with nine home runs in 139 career major league games.
Zavala struck first in the third inning with an assist to the short porch.
He smacked an 0-1 knuckle-curve 320 feet to right while playing in the only park in Major League Baseball that could not hold it in.
Anthony Volpe steals second base in the fourth inning of the Yankees’ loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“The air wasn’t thick enough,” Schmidt said with a smile after allowing three runs in six innings. “The homer down the line might not have gone out.”
Zavala’s next blast, though, was a no-doubter. After Romy Gonzalez singled in the fifth inning, Zavala jumped on a down-the-middle cutter and hammered it to left for a three-run White Sox lead that would prove too steep for the shorthanded Yankees.
Source: New York Post
