11 INNS. / BOX: P. 68
White Sox 6
Yankees 5
CHICAGO – Their staff ace was mortal. And their Hall of Fame closer proved he is human by giving up a game-tying home run to Paul Konerko in the ninth that flushed a save.
But it was Scott Proctor, a pitcher the Yankees refused to part with at the trade deadline, who absorbed the loss last night at U.S. Cellular Field.
Proctor worked a perfect 10th when he fanned three White Sox but ran into immediate trouble in the 11th when Tadahito Iguchi singled off Robinson Cano’s glove and Jim Thome walked.
Following Konerko’s pop to right, Jermaine Dye rifled a 0-2 pitch into center that scored Iguchi and lift the White Sox to a 6-5 victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 39,872.
The tough-to-swallow loss that started a 21-game in 20 days stretch, didn’t cost the Yankees ground in the AL East because the Red Sox were beaten by the putrid Royals and remain two games back.
Konerko drove a 2-2 pitch into the center-field seats leading off the ninth inning and handed Rivera his third blown save of the season. It was the second homer given up by Rivera this year. Vernon Wells hit the other.
Until Rivera flushed the win, the Yankees were three outs away from victory, thanks to Alex Rodriguez’ two-run homer, Craig Wilson’s solo blast and RBIs from Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi and another stellar performance by the bullpen.
Ron Villone, Jose Veras, Mike Myers and Kyle Farnsworth and provided four scoreless innings of relief and turned a one-run lead over to Rivera, who had converted 15 straight save chances.
Robinson Cano went 3-for-5 in his return from six weeks on the DL with a left hamstring injury.
Jorge Posada went hitless in five trips but was 3-for-3 throwing out runners attempting to steal second.
The Yankees took a 5-4 lead in the eighth but missed a chance to expand the advantage when Posada grounded into a bases-loaded, inning-ending double play.
With one out Derek Jeter reached on an infield single up the middle and Abreu walked. Right-hander Mike McDougal replaced lefty Matt Thornton and gave up a 0-2 single to A-Rod that was hit too hard to score Jeter.
With the bases loaded, lefty Neal Cotts was summoned to face Giambi and plunked him with a 1-1 fastball clocked at 93 mph. Posada followed by hitting into a 4-6-3 double play, the third turned by the White Sox infield.
Bernie Williams hit for Giambi in the 10th after Giambi was forced to leave the game with a bruised right elbow.
Joe Torre took a fall coming out of the first base dugout to argue a blown call by Brian Gorman in the seventh. Cano led off with a single and was erased on Wilson’s grounder to third that Joe Crede threw to second. Iguchi’s pivot throw arrived at first a half step behind Wilson but Gorman, who started to signal safe, called Wilson out.
As he climbed the dugout steps, Torre, who wears a brace on the left knee, slipped and broke his fall with his hands. Since Gorman didn’t change the call, it was hardly worth the trip. Not only was Wang’s signature sinker up in the strike zone where it’s very hittable, it was often wide and put him behind in too many counts.
Wang, who brought an 18-inning scoreless streak into the game, gave up three runs in the second and one in the fourth. In five frames he allowed four runs and seven hits.
Villone replaced Wang to start the sixth and fanned Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski with Paul Konerko on first. White Sox starter Freddy Garcia went seven innings, gave up four runs (three earned) and six hits. He walked one and fanned six.