(AP Photo/John Smierciak)| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| N.Y. Yankees « | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 14 | 0 |
| Chi. White Sox | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 1 |
S: M. Rivera (26)
Last night, the Yankees survived several White Sox rallies to hold on to a 12-9 win. The victory keeps the in a tie for first with the Rays, who beat the Red Sox on a walk-off homer by Dan Johnson.
Neither team got much pitching, but CC Sabathia was good enough to remain the game through seven and pick up his league-leading 18th victory of the year. CC almost pulled an A.J. Burnett, when he gave up five runs over the first five, trimming a Yankees 6-1 lead down to 6-5. But he settled in and held Chicago off the board for the next two.
The Yankees offense also picked up their ace by scoring four more runs in the 5th to increase their lead back to five and put the game out of reach.
Eduardo Nunez, Marcus Thames, Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada, and Robinson Cano did all the damage for the Yanks. Let's look at their nights one by one:
- Nunez was the offensive star of this one, picking up three hits, his first big league homer, and driving in four. The rookie has looked very good replacing Alex Rodriguez, and is now hitting .333 over his first 24 at-bats at the major league level. His homer came with the Yankees up 2-1 in the 2nd, and extended their lead to 4-1.
- Thames also had a big night, smacking two homers and driving in three. He doesn't play a lot, but when he does he gets the job done. For the season, he's now hitting .319/.399/.528 with 8 HR and 24 RBI. I'm surprised I'm saying it, but he's probably been the best of Brian Cashman's offseason additions. His first homer turned out to be a big one, because it extended their lead to 6-1 in the 3rd, and as you know by now they needed every run they could get.
- Swisher went 2-for-5 and drove in 3. He got the Yankees started with a two-run homer in the 1st, his 24th of the year. He also picked up an RBI single in the 8th for a very important insurance run.
- Posada reached base four times, and drove in two runs on a big two-run double in the 5th after Chicago cut the Yankees lead to one.
- Cano didn't drive in a run, but he scored two and picked up three hits.
In came Mo and he immediately got a doubleplay to take most of the air out of the building. But then Ramon Castro singled and Andruw Jones walked, and the Sox had the tying run at the plate for Mark Teahen. Mo got ahead 1-2 and then got Teahen to line out to Cano to end the game.
It wasn't a well played game or a fun game to watch, but at least the Yankees won it.
They now look to take the series in tomorrow afternoon's rubber game with Ivan Nova going up against Gavin Floyd. First pitch is set for 2:05 pm, and the game will be on YES and TBS.
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Derek Jeter , SS | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | .272 |
| Nick Swisher , 1B | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .294 |
| Mark Teixeira , 1B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .257 |
| a-Curtis Granderson , PH-CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .245 |
| Robinson Cano , 2B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .323 |
| Marcus Thames , DH | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .319 |
| Jorge Posada , C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .257 |
| Austin Kearns , RF | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .273 |
| Brett Gardner , CF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .286 |
| Eduardo Nunez , SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| Totals | 38 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 21 | |
| a-Struck out swinging for M Teixeira in the 3rd. | ||||||||
| BATTING | ||||||||
| 2B - J Posada 2 (19); B Gardner (15) | ||||||||
| HR - N Swisher (24); M Thames 2 (8); E Nunez (1) | ||||||||
| RBI - N Swisher 3 (75); M Thames 3 (24); J Posada 2 (49); E Nunez 4 (7) | ||||||||
| RISP - 4-12 (D Jeter 1-3, C Granderson 0-1, E Nunez 1-1, M Thames 0-1, B Gardner 0-1, A Kearns 0-1, J Posada 1-1, N Swisher 1-2, R Cano 0-1) LOB - 8 | ||||||||
| SB - E Nunez (1) | ||||||||
| CS - C Granderson (2) | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| CC Sabathia (W,18-5) | 7.0 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 3.14 |
| Joba Chamberlain | 0.1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.01 |
| Boone Logan | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.59 |
| David Robertson | 0.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.14 |
| Mariano Rivera (S,26) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.16 |
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls: C Sabathia 5-7; J Chamberlain 0-0; B Logan 1-1; D Robertson 0-0; M Rivera 2-1 |
| Called strikes-Swinging strikes-Foul balls-In Play strikes: C Sabathia 20-14-23-21; J Chamberlain 2-1-2-2; B Logan 0-1-1-3; D Robertson 1-0-6-3; M Rivera 1-3-1-3 |
| First-pitch strikes/Batters faced: C Sabathia 19/31; J Chamberlain 2/3; B Logan 0/3; D Robertson 1/3; M Rivera 3/4 |
| PLAYER OF THE GAME: Eduardo Nunez HONORABLE MENTION: Marcus Thames |