Yankees win fifth straight, remain tied for first with Toronto in AL East

Three of the relievers Yankees manager Aaron Boone hopes to deploy in the late innings to close out games during what he hopes will be a lengthy October run helped keep his club’s AL East hopes alive Thursday night.

But as has been the case often this season, it wasn’t always easy.

After Luke Weaver retired all three batters he faced in the seventh inning, a resurgent Devin Williams allowed two baserunners in the eighth before Cody Bellinger made a running catch of a line drive to protect a two-run lead. David Bednar, mostly lights out since being acquired at the trade deadline, again did the job in the ninth to preserve the Yankees’ 5-3 win over the White Sox in front of 38,545 at the Stadium.

The Yankees (91-68), who have won eight of their last nine games in erasing a five-game deficit on Sept. 16, did see their AL East hopes take a slight hit as the Blue Jays (91-68), losers of six of their last seven entering the night, beat the Red Sox.

The Blue Jays, who own the tiebreaker over the Yankees after taking the season series from them, will finish the regular season with three home games against the Rays. The Yankees finish with three home games against the Orioles and will have to win one more game than the Blue Jays do this weekend to finish atop the division.

The Yankees moved four games ahead of the Red Sox and clinched at least the first wild card and home-field advantage in the wild-card round (if they don’t beat out the Blue Jays).

“Great. But that’s not the world we’re living in right now,’’ Boone said. “We need to try to win every game and that’s our focus and keeping it like that. It’s on to Baltimore now. Obviously, a really good pitcher [Trevor Rogers] coming in to face us tomorrow, so that’s as small as we want to keep it right now.”

The White Sox (58-101), competitive in two of the three games here, ultimately showed why they’re a 100-loss team.

With Chicago leading 3-1 in the fifth and the bases loaded, third baseman Curtis Mead failed to get in front of Giancarlo Stanton’s 109-mph missile, and the three-run double put the Yankees ahead for good at 4-3.

Austin Wells added an RBI double in the seventh to help Carlos Rodon move to 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA. He is 9-3 with a 2.80 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in his last 14 starts.

After Weaver set down the White Sox on two flyouts and a groundout in the seventh, Williams struck out the first two batters in the eighth before walking Colson Montgomery and allowing a single by Edgar Quero. Miguel Vargas stung one to left-center, but an on-the-run Bellinger saved one run and likely two with a running backhand grab.

Bednar had an easy time of it in the ninth for his 26th save, ninth with the Yankees.

“He’s been everything we would have hoped,'' Boone said. "He’s really solidified the back end. It’s helped the other guys kind of fall into really good roles and places. I feel like a lot of guys down there are throwing the ball really well, and he’s a big part of that.”

Rodon, making his final regular-season start, allowed three runs, four hits and a walk in six innings in which he struck out five. That pushed him to 203 strikeouts for the season, making him the first Yankees lefthander to post a 200-strikeout season since CC Sabathia in 2011.

“It was good enough. Just tried to attack the zone,’’ he said. “Obviously a couple pitches I’d like back, but I’m happy with the win so I can’t be upset.”

The Yankees loaded the bases four times in the first six innings but went 1-for-10 with nine left on base in that span.

Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the first against Davis Martin with a line-drive single to center and Aaron Judge, who went 2-for-3 with two intentional walks in raising his MLB-leading batting average to .330, roped a double into the gap in left-center. Bellinger walked to load the bases and Ben Rice chopped one to Martin along the first-base line for an RBI groundout and a 1-0 lead.

Vargas led off the second with a single and Rodon grazed the lefty-hitting Kyle Teel with a pitch. Michael A. Taylor’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners and Corey Julks’ sacrifice fly to deep center tied it at 1-1.

The White Sox took a 3-1 lead in the fourth. With two outs and a man on first, Rodon  left a 94-mph fastball over the heart of the plate that Taylor poked just over the wall in right-center for a two-run homer.

With one out in the fifth, Judge and Bellinger singled and lefthander Tyler Gilbert replaced Martin. After the reliever’s glove was confiscated by the umpires and a new glove was retrieved for him from the dugout, he walked Rice to load the bases. Stanton promptly cleared them, ripping a double past Mead to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Stanton entered Thursday 11-for-73 with 36 strikeouts in his previous 22 games and struck out in his first two at-bats Thursday.

“He threw me a heater first pitch and a cutter the second and left it out over the plate,’’ he said, “and I was able to be on time and hit it hard.”

Notes & quotes: Two more intentional walks Thursday night gave Judge a total of 36, breaking a tie with Ted Williams for the most in American League history (since 1955, when the statistic began being tracked). Williams had 34 in 1957. It's the most in MLB  since Albert Pujols had 38 in 2010 . . . The Yankees face a tough task on Friday night against Rodgers, who will be opposed by Will Warren. The Baltimore lefthander is 9-2 with a 1.35 ERA and 0.87 WHIP and held the Yankees to one hit in six scoreless innings last Friday . . .  The Yankees have gone 29-12 in moving a season-high 23 games over .500.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.