Yankees' winning streak snapped at 7, Aaron Judge ties Yogi Berra on franchise HR list

CHICAGO — The Yankees caught a break Saturday night  when Lenyn Sosa missed by inches of dropping in a game-winning hit in the 10th inning.

There was no such it’s-a-game-of-inches break Sunday afternoon.

After Tim Hill retired the first two batters of the eighth inning, Sosa clobbered a 1-and-2 sinker 418 feet and well over the centerfield wall. His 18th homer snapped a tie and sent the Yankees to a 3-2 loss to the White Sox in front of 27,810 at Rate Field.

That ended the Yankees’ winning streak at seven games.

“Not getting that kind of stings,” Aaron Judge — who tied Yogi Berra for fifth on the franchise’s all-time home run list at 358 with his 43rd of the season — said of failing to complete a four-game sweep of the White Sox.

Instead, the Yankees (76-61) fell three games behind the  AL East-leading Blue Jays  and saw the Red Sox crawl within a half-game for the league’s top wild-card spot.  

After an off day Monday, the Yankees will start a three-game series against the Astros — a regular-season and postseason nemesis like none other the last decade — at Daikin Park, formerly Minute Maid Park.

It is the start of a run of four straight series against the three American League division leaders and the second wild card. The Astros series will be followed by three games each against the Blue Jays, Tigers and Red Sox — four teams against whom the Yankees are 7-19 — in a schedule that lately has been   cotton candy-soft.

“That’s what we want. It’s coming down to the wire; we want to play the best teams,” said Judge, who hit a 426-foot homer to centerfield off lefthander Martin Perez in the first inning — the third time he has homered on an 0-and-2 pitch this season. “That’s what it’s all about. See what we’re made of. But I like our chances, especially the way the boys have been swinging it and the way our pitching staff, our starters, have been rolling.”

The Yankees, who outscored the White Sox 25-9 in the first three games of the series, went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.

Trent Grisham led off the ninth against lefthander Cam Booser with a walk but righthander Mike Vasil retired Paul Goldschmidt on a long fly ball to center and Judge on a soft fly to center. Grisham stole second, but Vasil struck out Cody Bellinger looking at a borderline pitch on the inside corner to end it.

Bellinger, who struck out three times, and the Yankees initially did not like the call but acknowledged afterward that it was a strike. “Looked like it really tailed back and caught the corner,” Aaron Boone said. “Real good execution by Vasil there.”

The Yankees’ offense was limited to Judge’s first-inning homer and back-to-back doubles by Judge and Bellinger in the third. Judge, whose 406-foot double hit high off the centerfield wall, had hits in his first three at-bats, scored two runs and picked up his 97th RBI.

The key moment in the game came in the third when, after Bellinger’s double, Giancarlo Stanton drove a full-count changeup deep to right. Mike Tauchman, a Yankee from 2019-21, made a leaping catch at the wall, robbing Stanton of a two-run homer that would have given the Yankees a 4-1 lead.

“Any time, if Tauchman’s in center, if he’s in right, left, doesn’t matter, that’s the one guy you don’t want to hit it to,” Judge said. “I’ve seen him make a lot of impressive plays over the years, especially in pinstripes with us. I hated seeing it, to be honest, but that guy’s a ballplayer.”

Luis Gil, making his sixth start, was mostly very good, allowing two runs, four hits and two walks in 5 1⁄3 innings in which he struck out seven. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year showed far better command than in his previous five outings, when he walked 17 in 24 innings.

“It’s something we’ve been working on, attacking the strike zone,” he said through his interpreter.

Perez, 3-5 with a 5.37 ERA in his career against the Yankees entering the day, allowed two runs, five hits and two walks in six innings in which he struck out seven.

“He pitched a good game,” Boone said. “We had a couple chances to really kind of take it and he was able to make enough pitches against us.”

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.