Bronx, NY – Dayan Viciedo made the Yankees pay for a bad throw, hitting a three-run homer in the ninth inning Thursday night to lift the White Sox to a 4-3 win in the opener of a four-game series.
"We got the one break and he jumped on it," remarked White Sox manager Robin Ventura about Viciedo's home run. "He's got power and he's shown it."
Viciedo's go-ahead blast off David Robertson (0-2) came after Yankees reliever Clay Rapada sailed a throw into center field on a tailor-made double play ball with no outs, leaving two men on base.
The Yankees put a runner on in the bottom of the ninth, but Derek Jeter lined out to the wall in deep right to end their five-game winning streak.
"We got the double play ball and made a bad play," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "That's a tough way to lose but it's a physical error and you just have to move on."
Alejandro De Aza also homered for the White Sox, who have won five of their last six.
Hector Santiago (2-1) got the win despite giving up a solo home run to Mark Teixeira in the eighth. Addison Reed pitched around Dewayne Wise's single to earn his 11th save.
After getting the final out of the eighth, Cody Eppley surrendered a leadoff single to Alex Rios in the ninth, giving way to Rapada.
A.J. Pierzynski hit a sharp grounder on his third pitch that Rapada fielded cleanly before throwing wide of second base to the shortstop side -- Jeter didn't have a shot to catch it.
Viciedo then homered on Robertson's second pitch, a 90 mph fastball he sent several rows into the seats behind left field.
"I really let the team down," said Rapada. "I was throwing to his chest and I didn't do it."
After Wise singled to lead off the ninth, he was nearly doubled off on Eric Chavez's fly ball to left field, but Viciedo's strong throw was wide of first base.
Jeter's two-out liner was caught by Rios near the warning track to end the game.
Earlier, Jeter tied Cal Ripken Jr. for 13th place on the all-time hits list with a single in the seventh inning for No. 3,184.
Dylan Axelrod, in his third start of the season for the White Sox, gave up two runs on six hits and three walks over seven innings.
Yankees starter Ivan Nova was set to become the fourth AL pitcher with 10 wins after giving up a run on six hits and three walks in 7 1/3 innings until the bullpen blew his lead.
The righty turned in a good outing one day after the Yankees lost starters CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte.
Pettitte, who is expected to miss at least six weeks with a broken left ankle, was put on the 60-day disabled list earlier Thursday. He took a one-hopper off his ankle during Wednesday's game against the Indians, the same day Sabathia went on the 15-day DL with a strained groin muscle.
The Yankees, plugging some hole, brought up righties Adam Warren and Ryota Igarashi from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Warren will make his first major league start on Friday against Jose Quintana, filling in for Sabathia.
De Aza's homer into the second deck behind right field gave the White Sox a lead in the top of the fifth, but the Yankees put together a two-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the inning to make it 2-1.
Curtis Granderson started it with a single and scored on Alex Rodriguez's double to left-center, which hit off De Aza's glove. Robinson Cano then knocked in Rodriguez with a one-hop double off the right-center field wall.
Teixeira homered to left with two outs in the eighth off Santiago, his 13th of the season, to make it 3-1.
Game Notes
De Aza hit his fifth homer of the season...Nova has two straight no-decisions since winning five starts in a row. His last loss was May 19 against the Reds...Axelrod continues to fill in for the injured Philip Humber in the rotation...The Yankees were coming off a three-game sweep of Cleveland to open a seven-game homestand...The White Sox were coming off winning two of three in Minnesota to start a seven-game road trip...Nap Lajoie is 12th on the hits list with 3,252.
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