Ali Sánchez hits his 1st career homer as the Yankees beat the White Sox 9-5

Ali Sánchez hit a three-run shot for his first career homer and the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 9-5 on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series between playoff contenders.

Ben Rice hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, and New York put away the game with four more runs in the eighth. Sánchez had the big blow, a two-out drive to left field on a 3-2 fastball from Sean Newcomb.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. had two hits, two RBIs and two steals for New York. Jasson Domínguez also had two hits and scored twice.

The Yankees (60-46) won for the sixth time in eight games and pulled within 2 1/2 games of idle Tampa Bay for the AL East lead.

Colson Montgomery had three hits for Chicago (55-50), which committed three errors in its third loss in four games. Noah Schultz allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings for the AL Central leaders.

New York grabbed a 5-4 lead on Rice's two-out single off Bryan Hudson (3-4). Rice drove in Amed Rosario, who led off with a pinch-hit double and advanced when catcher Edgar Quero committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.

Brent Headrick (6-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. David Bednar got one out for his 21st save, striking out Chase Meidroth with two on after shortstop Anthony Volpe dropped Montgomery's high popup, allowing Sam Antonacci to score on the error.

Chicago jumped in front with three runs in the first against Max Fried. Montgomery hit an RBI single and scored on Braden Montgomery's two-out triple.

Randal Grichuk sparked the fast start with a leadoff double to left. Max Schuemann had an opportunity to cut down Grichuk at second, but Chisholm wasn't able to catch his one-hop throw.

Chisholm then had the key hit in New York's four-run fourth, a tying two-run double off Chris Murphy. Chisholm alertly swiped third on Quero's throw to Murphy after a pitch and scored on Spencer Jones' grounder to second.

The White Sox rallied in the fifth. Miguel Vargas doubled and scored on Colson Montgomery's single off Tim Hill, tying it at 4.

Up next

Gerrit Cole (3-5, 3.92 ERA) starts for New York on Tuesday night, and left-hander Anthony Kay (7-4, 4.21) pitches for the White Sox.