CHICAGO — The Yankees couldn’t dictate the lightness of their recent schedule, but they managed to handle their matchups nearly flawlessly.
Almost.
As they brace for a two-week stretch of tough games, they let an opportunity slip to make it a perfect week, losing 3-2 to the White Sox at Rate Field on Sunday afternoon. This defeat ended their seven-game winning streak.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, lefty Tim Hill surrendered a go-ahead homer to Lenyn Sosa, a right-handed batter, breaking the 2-2 deadlock on a day when the Yankees struggled offensively.
Following the Blue Jays’ victory over the Brewers on Sunday, the Yankees (76-61) fell three games behind Toronto in the AL East standings and saw their lead narrow to a half-game over the Red Sox for the top AL wild-card position.
The Yankees are set to have a rest day in Houston on Monday before engaging in a three-game series starting Tuesday. This will commence their challenging series against playoff hopefuls, including the Blue Jays, Tigers, and Red Sox.
Aaron Judge came close to hitting for the cycle, missing only a triple, and hit his 43rd home run of the season. However, he flied out with the tying run on first base in the ninth inning.
Luis Gil was solid, if not spectacular, while giving up two runs across 5 ¹/₃ innings.
The right-hander has not completed six innings in any of his six starts this season.
For the second straight day, Judge put the Yankees ahead 1-0 with a home run.
This one came in the first against veteran lefty Martín Pérez, who left an 0-2 cutter down the middle that Judge crushed 426 feet.
The solo blast pulled Judge into a tie with Yogi Berra for fifth place on the all-time Yankees home run list with 358.
Joe DiMaggio is up next at 361.
The three-hit day was an encouraging sign for Judge, who entered Sunday batting .218 in 23 games since coming off the IL for an elbow flexor strain.
Gil, whose velocity was down early — perhaps in an attempt to improve his command, as he did in his prior start — gave up back-to-back doubles in the second inning that allowed the White Sox to tie the game.
But the Yankees responded with back-to-back doubles of their own in the third to regain the lead.
Judge came within a few feet of his second home run before settling for a double off the center field wall and Cody Bellinger drove him in with a two-bagger that made it 2-1.
Giancarlo Stanton nearly padded the lead later in the inning, but ex-Yankee Mike Tauchman jumped and reached over the right field wall to rob him of a two-run homer.
Gil had retired 10 straight into the sixth inning before throwing a slider on the outside corner to Colson Montgomery, who drilled it to center for a solo shot that tied the game at 2-2.
Gil walked the next batter on four pitches — both of his free passes on Sunday were four-pitch walks — ending his outing.
He was relieved by Fernando Cruz, who got Curtis Mead to ground into an inning-ending double play.
