NEW YORK _ Masahiro Tanaka's jersey name for Players' Weekend was "Tanaka Time." But since Tanaka didn't pitch, the real Tanaka Time was Monday night when he started against the White Sox.
Then Tanaka Time came again in the sixth inning when he was trying to hold a two-run lead. But Tanaka gave up three in the sixth and one in the seventh and the Yankees went on to a 6-2 loss before 41,456 at Yankee Stadium.
That the Yankees lost to the White Sox (52-79) illustrates how hard it will be to catch the Red Sox in the AL East. The Yankees, who had gained 4 { games in the division in eight days, need to beat the bottom-feeding teams. Instead, the Yankees saw their four-game winning streak end and fell to 6 { games behind the idle Red Sox.
Gleyber Torres had staked Tanaka to a 2-0 lead with a 444-foot, two-run home run to center in the fourth off Chicago starter Carlos Rodon. It was the rookie Torres' 20th home run of the season.
But the Yankees managed just three hits and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position with a lineup that included Luke Voit batting cleanup and a 7-8-9 of Kyle Higashioka, Ronald Torreyes and Shane Robinson.
The Yankees finished with the same number of errors as hits.
Tanaka (9-5) had wriggled out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the fourth by striking out Matt Davidson and Omar Narvaez and getting Yoan Moncada on a 1-6-3 grounder to Torres that Tanaka tipped.
But Tanaka couldn't get out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the sixth. The trouble started when Daniel Palka hit a broken-bat dribbler down the third-base line for a single. Davidson walked and Narvaez hit a nearly identical checked-swing dribbler down the third-base line. Tanaka fielded this one, but fired high to first as the White Sox catcher was safe with a single.
Moncada followed with a two-run double to right-center to tie the game at 2. Nicky Delmonico hit a sacrifice fly to left to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead.
The White Sox scored another run in the seventh when Yolmer Sanchez singled, moved to second on an error by left fielder Robinson and scored on a double by Tim Anderson.
Tanaka allowed four runs and 10 hits with one walk, one hit batter and seven strikeouts in seven innings.
The Yankees failed to score after Torreyes led off the third inning with a triple as Robinson grounded out and Aaron Hicks grounded into a 6-2 fielder's choice.
They also failed to score in the seventh after Rondon walked the first two batters and fell behind Higashioka 3-and-1. Higashioka, who entered the game batting .190, swung at the 3-and-1 pitch and fouled out to the catcher. Torreyes then grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
Rodon (6-3) was charged with two runs in seven innings. He allowed two hits, walked four and struck out two.
Chicago made it 6-2 in an ugly ninth against A.J. Cole. Adam Engel led off with a single and moved to second when Cole threw wild on a pickoff throw for an error. Engel moved to third on a groundout, which forced the Yankees to bring the infield in. Anderson hit a chopper to Voit, who booted it for a run-scoring error as Anderson took second.
Anderson stole third without a throw, which forced the Yankees to bring the infield in again. Cole struck out Avisail Garcia, but the ball got by Higashioka for a wild pitch. Anderson scored to make it 6-2 and Garcia reached first.
