Yankees rally past White Sox as Beltran hits 400th
NEW YORK -- Pinch hitter Chase Headley had a long tiebreaking double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the New York Yankees blew three one-run leads before pulling out a 7-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox Sunday afternoon.
Headley's ninth hit in his last 25 at-bats gave the Yankees their seventh win in 10 games on a day when Carlos Beltran became the fourth switch hitter to reach 400 home runs and Dellin Betances gave up three straight hits.
Headley did not start since he was hitless in eight at-bats off Chicago starter Miguel Gonzalez. After Matt Albers (1-2) walked Didi Gregorius, Headley roped a double that one-hopped the warning track and bounced off the center field wall, giving the Yankees their final lead.
Beltran's milestone occurred with two outs in the sixth when he drove a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall from Zach Duke. He joined Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray along with former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones when he drove a 2-2 pitch from left-hander Zach Duke over the left field fence.
It was Beltran's eighth home run of the season but second against a left-handed pitcher. It also was his 116th home run in 2,431 career at-bats against a left-hander.
Beltran's home run barely stood as the deciding run as Betances gave up singles to Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier before Melky Cabrera tied the game at 5-5 with a double down the left field line. Betances (1-2) got out of the inning by striking out Alex Avila.
Andrew Miller struck out two in the eighth. After Brian McCann homered in the eighth, Aroldis Chapman recorded his third save, highlighting the outing by getting fellow Cuban Jose Abreu to ground out on the 12th pitch.
Before Beltran's home run and Headley's double, the Yankees held leads of 1-0 and 3-2. Beltran lifted a sacrifice fly in the first and the Yankees went ahead on an infield single by Starlin Castro and bases-loaded walk by Dustin Ackley in the third.
Adam Eaton gave Chicago a 2-1 lead on a long home run off Masahiro Tanaka into the back of the New York bullpen beyond the right-center field fence in the third. Eaton then drove in a run with a sacrifice bunt in the fourth.
Avisail Garcia had three hits, including an RBI single in the second for Chicago's first run.
Neither starting pitcher lasted six innings.
Gonzalez allowed three runs, five hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings while Tanaka allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings.
NOTES: LHP CC Sabathia (strained left groin) threw about 50 pitches in a simulated game as he pitched to IF Ronald Torreyes and IF/OF Dustin Ackley. Sabathia also did some fielding drills such as making pickoff throws and covering first base. Sabathia reported no physical difficulties and if nothing goes wrong, he will likely start Friday in Oakland. ... Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio starting his record-setting 56-game hitting streak with a single off Chicago's Eddie Smith. White Sox manager Robin Ventura had a 58-game hitting streak at Oklahoma State and said he doesn't think anyone will get close to 56 games. "I can't imagine a guy getting within 10," Ventura said. "It's just harder. If anybody watched the end of our game yesterday you see what's possible." ... The Yankees have not named a starter for RHP Luis Severino's spot Wednesday but it could be RHP Chad Green.