It took the Yankees six innings to wake up Tuesday before they came back to beat the White Sox in the bottom of the ninth.
On Wednesday, they dozed all night and lost a series to a White Sox team that came to The Bronx a whopping 28 games under .500.
CC Sabathia gave up three runs in six innings — done in mostly by left fielder Ryan LaMarre’s three extra-base hits — and the Yankees offense was mostly shut down in a 4-1 defeat.
When the Yankees did have a chance to get back in the game in the fifth, they scored just once when they had the bases loaded and the inning ended with Gleyber Torres being thrown out at the plate on a pitch by Reynaldo Lopez that got to the backstop.
With the Red Sox pummeling the Marlins once again in Boston, the Yankees fell back to 7½ games out in the AL East and remained 4½ ahead of Oakland for the top wild-card spot.
The Yankees also had a chance to go a season-high 37 games over .500, but Lopez limited the Yankees to one runs in seven innings for the second time this month.
Unlike Tuesday, when the Yankees erupted for five runs in the last four innings, there was no rally Wednesday.
Sabathia cruised through the first inning, striking out two, but the White Sox scored twice in the second.
With runners on the corners and two out, LaMarre hit one to the opposite field that just got over Giancarlo Stanton in right for a two-run double. Sabathia managed to limit the damage there, but needed 32 pitches to get out of the inning — not ideal, especially on a 93-degree night.
After Lopez got a visit from the trainer with one out in the bottom of the inning, Neil Walker — whose homer in the ninth won Tuesday’s game — was robbed of another home run when Avisail Garcia made a leaping grab at the wall.
Greg Bird snapped an 0-for-21 skid with a leadoff double in the third for the Yankees’ first hit. But Austin Romine struck out and Ronald Torreyes flied to right. Bird moved to third on Torreyes’ fly out, but Brett Gardner grounded to first to end the threat.
LaMarre struck again in the fourth, ripping a two-out double into the left-field corner that scored Yoan Moncada from first to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead.
Aaron Hicks saved Sabathia and the Yankees from another run with a diving catch of a Garcia liner in left-center with Jose Rondon on second for the second out. It was the first of two standout catches by Hicks on the night, as he made another one on a Moncada ball to the track in the sixth.
Meanwhile, Bird was the Yankees’ only base runner until Walker singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth after Matt Davidson badly overran Walker’s foul pop earlier to extend the at-bat. Torres followed with a line drive to center to bring up Bird.
Bird flied to left for the first out before Romine walked to load the bases for Torreyes.
Torreyes’ single to left knocked in Walker to make it 3-1.
Gardner followed by striking out for the second out.
The Yankees appeared to get a break when Lopez fired a pitch that sailed over catcher Kevan Smith, but Smith raced back to get it and Lopez made a terrific play at the plate to tag a sliding Torres to end the inning with Stanton in the batter’s box.
Stanton walked to open the bottom of the sixth, but was stranded at first.
LaMarre continued his onslaught on Yankees’ pitching with a leadoff homer in the seventh off Chad Green. Green then walked Yolmer Sanchez, who was thrown out trying to steal second. Sanchez also spiked Torres at second, but the shortstop stayed in the game after being treated by the training staff.
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