NEW YORK _ The Yankees trailed by four runs in the sixth inning, but the White Sox are where they're at for a reason. The Yankees hung around Tuesday night, and after getting two-run homers from Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hicks to tie it, they won, 5-4, on pinch hitter Neil Walker's walk-off homer with one out in the ninth.
Walker gave the Yankees their 13th homer in the last six games and 40 in their last 22. It was the 16th win in the last 22 games for the Yankees (84-48).
After the White Sox (52-80) put three on the board in the sixth to make it 4-0, Andujar, who has emerged as the favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, came through. Brett Gardner led off the inning with a triple but Giancarlo Stanton and Hicks each popped out. Andujar fell behind James Shields 0-and-1, then ripped a fastball halfway up the bleachers in left-center, with his 22nd homer making it 4-2.
Stanton led off the eighth with a single against Juan Minaya, snapping an 0-for-14 skid. Hicks came next and launched a full-count pitch to right for his 22nd homer, tying it at 4.
Shields, who came in 5-15 with a 4.59 ERA, allowed two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. The Yankees' Lance Lynn, who allowed five runs in each of his previous two outings, allowed three runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.
The Yankees were sloppy in a lackluster loss Monday night, a fact Aaron Boone didn't hide from afterward. "All and all, we didn't play a very clean brand of baseball," said Boone, who also used the word "sluggish" to describe his club.
The Yankees' caliber of play didn't improve all that much early Tuesday night. After committing three errors Monday, they committed two in the first three innings Tuesday and accumulated just one hit in the first five.
An embarrassing error by Greg Bird on the first batter of the game forced Lynn to work out of a mini-jam. Yolmer Sanchez led off with a routine grounder that second baseman Ronald Torreyes fielded cleanly. He threw to first, but Bird flat dropped the ball.
Nicky Delmonico flied to center and Sanchez stole second as Avisail Garcia swung and missed for the second out. Lynn struck out Daniel Palka swinging at a 95-mph fastball to end the 19-pitch inning.
More shoddy defense extended another White Sox inning, though with no damage on the scoreboard. In the third, with one on and two out, Garcia bounced to third. Andujar charged and booted the ball for the Yankees' second error in three innings. Palka walked to load the bases but Lynn, after going 3-and-1 on Matt Davidson, escaped when he grounded to short.
After Shields retired the Yankees in order on six pitches in the fourth, the White Sox took the lead in the fifth. Delmonico singled with one out and came around to score when Garcia yanked a fastball down the left-field line for a double.
The White Sox knocked Lynn from the game in the sixth, tacking on three more. Lynn retired the first two batters but Yoan Moncada and Adam Engel, the No. 9 hitter, singled.
Boone brought on righty Jonathan Holder to face Sanchez, who dumped an offspeed pitch to center for a single that made it 2-0. Sanchez took second on the throw to third, which enabled the White Sox to get two more runs as Delmonico sliced a two-run single to left that made it 4-0 and brought some of the loudest boos of the night.
