Cam Schlittler carried a dominant outing into the seventh inning, but the New York Yankees couldn’t protect an early lead in a 6-5, 12-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night at Rate Field. The defeat dropped the Yankees to 61-47, while the White Sox improved to 56-51 after rallying from a four-run deficit and walking off New York in extra innings.
The Yankees wasted no time building their advantage, scoring four runs in the first inning against Davis Martin. Ben Rice opened the rally with a double before Paul Goldschmidt drove him home with a single. Spencer Jones then crushed a three-run homer to the opposite field for his third career home run, finishing 2-for-4 with a stolen base. New York, however, managed just one more run over the final 11 innings.
Schlittler was outstanding through 6.1 innings, retiring the first 11 batters he faced before allowing his first hit in the fourth. The rookie right-hander surrendered just one run on two hits while striking out eight before Fernando Cruz escaped a seventh-inning jam. The bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, though, as Paul Blackburn allowed back-to-back home runs to Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami in the eighth to erase New York’s advantage.
Anthony Volpe put the Yankees back in front with a sacrifice fly in the 10th, but a throwing error by catcher Ali Sanchez while attempting to catch Murakami off third base allowed the tying run to score in the 11th. After New York stranded the bases loaded in the 12th, Edgar Quero ended the marathon with a walk-off single, dropping the Yankees to 1-7 in extra-inning games this season.
The Yankees wrap up their four-game series against the White Sox on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m., with Ryan Weathers (4-7, 4.25 ERA) set to face Chicago right-hander Sean Burke (7-5, 3.19 ERA).
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to kyle@fingerlakes1.com.