CHICAGO _ The Yankees departed for home feeling a heck of a lot better about themselves than when they pulled into the Windy City in the early hours Monday.
But even after completing a three-game sweep of the awful White Sox with a 7-3 victory, the Yankees, who got a solid outing from Luis Severino and a grand slam from Giancarlo Stanton, didn't find themselves all that much closer to the Red Sox.
The Yankees, swept in a four-game series in Beantown over the weekend, started this series 9 { games behind in the AL East. With the Red Sox beating the Blue Jays again Wednesday, the Yankees (71-42) are nine back as they start a four-game series Thursday night at home against the Rangers. It's the continuation of a favorable schedule that lasts until Sept. 3, when the Yankees start a three-game set in Oakland.
Wednesday night, the Yankees, who clawed out a 13-inning victory on Tuesday, efficiently dispatched the White Sox (41-73).
Severino, though not the dominant pitcher he was for much of the first half, certainly was better than he's been recently. Severino, who came in 1-3 with an 8.28 ERA in his previous five starts, allowed three runs and seven hits, at one point retiring 11 straight. It was his longest outing since going seven scoreless innings June 26 at Philadelphia. Severino (15-5, 3.11) struck out eight and did not walk a batter.
Stanton collected his first grand slam as a Yankee, slicing one down the right-field line off Lucas Giolito to cap a six-run second inning that turned a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 lead. It was Stanton's team-best 27th homer (the injured Aaron Judge has 26).
Aaron Hicks added a homer in the fifth, his 19th, making it 7-2.
After the Yankees forced Giolito (7-9, 6.23) to throw 24 pitches in a scoreless top of the first, Severino put them in a hole in the bottom half.
He struck out leadoff man Yoan Moncada swinging at a slider, but three straight hits followed. Yolmer Sanchez singled to left and Jose Abreu, who hit a tying two-run homer off Zach Britton on Tuesday night, laced a double into the gap in left-center to make it 1-0.
Daniel Palka lined a slider to center for a single that brought in Abreu to make it 2-0. Severino then retired 11 straight, four via the strikeout.
The Yankees came right back.
Gleyber Torres, hitting fifth, walked on four pitches and, after Miguel Andujar struck out, Neil Walker dropped a single to left. Austin Romine's RBI single to left, on a 2-and-2 changeup, made it 2-1, and Shane Robinson sent a 2-and-0 fastball to right, the RBI single tying it at 2. Brett Gardner was hit on the right foot with a pitch, loading the bases for Stanton.
The right fielder, 8-for-25 on the trip, got ahead 3-and-0 before fouling off a pair of fastballs. Giolito tried one more fastball, and Stanton punched it down the right-field line, the ball just staying fair for his sixth grand slam and first since April 18, 2014, against Seattle when he was with the Marlins.
Severino immediately provided a shutdown inning, needing nine pitches to retire the White Sox in order. His streak of 11 retired ended in the fifth when Tim Anderson led off the inning with his 15th homer, which made it 7-3.
