Jun 6, 2007, 4:50 GMT
Chicago, IL - Alex Rodriguez homered and finished with three RBI while Derek Jeter posted two hits and two runs scored, as the New York Yankees defeated the Chicago White Sox, 7-3, at U.S. Cellular Field.
Tyler Clippard tossed five solid innings and earned the win for the Yankees, who evened this four-game set after a 6-4 loss in Monday's series opener. Clippard (3-1), in his fourth major league start, allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts. Johnny Damon finished 3-for-5 with a run scored in the win. New York has now won four of its last six contests following a five-game skid.
'He's not afraid of what's going to happen out there - he competes,' said New York manager Joe Torre of Clippard. 'He's really not overpowering, but he mixes it up enough to get (the job) done.'
Rob Mackowiak notched a pair of RBI for the struggling White Sox, who have lost eight of their last 10 games overall.
Mark Buehrle cruised early on and allowed one run through the first five innings but blew up in the sixth and suffered the loss. Buehrle (2-3) was charged with five runs on 11 hits in six full innings with two strikeouts.
'Buehrle didn't have his usual stuff,' said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
With the score tied 1-1, the Yankees took control with four runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Damon led off the decisive stanza with a double that sliced into the left- field corner and advanced to third when Jeter reached safely via a tremendous bunt that surprised Chicago third baseman Alex Cintron. Bobby Abreu then grounded the first pitch he saw into right field for a 2-1 lead. With Jeter on third base, Rodriguez hit a towering shot that hit the wall in center field, and the two-base hit scored Jeter and landed Abreu on third.
'He made a couple of mistakes and got a couple of pitches up and they hit them,' said Guillen of Buehrle.
Still with no outs, Jorge Posada was next to the plate and his fly ball into shallow right field was caught by Jermaine Dye. However, Dye's throw did not reach the plate in time and Abreu slid past the tag for the third run of the frame. Hideki Matsui capped the uprising with an RBI single before Robinson Cano flied out and Melky Cabrera grounded into a fielder's choice.
Scott Proctor replaced Clippard and pitched a perfect bottom of the sixth before the Yanks another run in the seventh when Rodriguez singled home Jeter.
Proctor worked around a leadoff single by Juan Uribe in the home seventh and Kyle Farnsworth took the mound to pitch the eighth. Like Proctor in the previous inning, Farnsworth issued a leadoff walk, this one to Jim Thome. After Dye flied out, consecutive singles by A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko loaded the bases for Mackowiak, whose fielder's choice allowed Thome to cross the plate. However, Farnsworth put a quick stop to any potential further damage when he induced a pop foul from Uribe that Posada caught behind home plate.
Rodriguez gave the visitors a 7-2 advantage with his solo home run in the top of the ninth and the Yankees brought reliever Brian Bruney in for the bottom of the frame. Bruney, though, allowed a one-out single to Jerry Owens, who advanced to second base on a wild pitch, then issued consecutive walks to Tadahito Iguchi and Thome.
With the bases loaded and one out, manager Joe Torre went to the mound and replaced Bruney with closer Mariano Rivera. Dye lifted a sacrifice fly that drew Chicago within 7-3, but Rivera induced a game-ending groundout off the bat of Pierzynski and earned his sixth save of 2007.
Scheduled to start on the hill for Wednesday's game are Chicago's Javier Vazquez and New York right-hander Chien-Ming Wang.
The teams traded RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings. In the home fourth, Mackowiak's base hit scored Dye before New York tied it on Miguel Cairo's run-scoring single.
Game Notes
Buehrle, winless in his last seven starts including this one, remained one shy of career victory No. 100...Thome, who drew three bases-on-balls, now has 1,402 walks for his career -- good for 23rd place on all-time list...Chicago starting third baseman Joe Crede was scratched (sore back) and could possibly be placed on the disabled list later this week... The White Sox stranded 11 baserunners...New York outhit Chicago, 17-10...A-Rod has 21 homers this year.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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