White Sox Top Yankees, Spoil Bryan Mitchell´s Debut

The Chicago White Sox defeated the New York Yankees 8-2 on Saturday night. Bryan Mitchell took the loss in his Yankees´2015 starting debut.

Mitchell had a difficult beginning in his first start of 2015. An RBI double by Jose Abreu put the White Sox up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. But Mitchell was able to avoid further damage by inducing Avisail Garcia to ground into an inning-ending double play. [related category]

Chicago tacked on another run in the second, when Alexei Ramirez drove his sixth home run of the year over the bullpen. Ramirez turned around a high fastball that came in straight. Mitchell then allowed a double and a walk, but once again he was able to wiggle off the hook without giving up any more runs.

And it had been six up and six down for the Yankees against Sox starter John Danks. But in the third, John Ryan Murphy doubled off of the right field wall. Brendan Ryan followed with a single to give the Yankees runners on first and third. Didi Gregorius hit a long sacrifice fly to bring home Murphy. The drive just missed sailing over the wall for a three-run home run, as Didi was robbed by Garcia , who reached high to make the catch.

Mitchell settled down in the third and fourth innings, holding Chicago scoreless. But a Tyler Saladino RBI single in the fifth resulted in Joe Girardi bringing in Diego Moreno. Moreno surrendered a three-run home run to Melky Cabrera to break the game open at 6-1.

Mitchell was charged with four runs and seven hits. But he did strike out five batters. His fastball consistently registered at 96 and 97 miles per hour. His struggles were due to his heater flattening out.

With Mark Teixeira on third and Chase Headley on first in the sixth, Girardi pinch hit Brian McCann for Murphy with two out. McCann was looking to jolt the Yankees back into the game. But he left Teixeira and Headley stranded to end the inning.
Chicago added two runs in the eight. Ramirez knocked in the first run. The second scored on a Moreno wild pitch.

McCann hit his 17th home run and collected his 61st RBI in the ninth to close out the scoring.