Yankees edge White Sox to stay 4 games behind AL East-leading Blue Jays

As the New York Yankees close in on their first clinching celebration in three years, they know the back end of their bullpen gives them a chance to go deep into October.

Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller each pitched a perfect inning to preserve the lead Adam Warren handed over and complete a three-hitter in Saturday's 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.

"Today's game is the recipe, minus the home run," Alex Rodriguez said.

Chase Headley and A-Rod hit consecutive RBI doubles off John Danks in the sixth inning. Jose Abreu had driven in Chicago's run with one of three singles in the first off Warren (7-7), who didn't allow another hit and won for the first time since July 25.

Closing in on its first post-season berth since 2012, New York (85-69) surpassed last year's wins total, stayed four games behind American League East-leading Toronto (89-65) with eight games remaining and maintained a 4 1/2-game lead over Houston for the top AL wild card.

"I'm excited to celebrate and taste some of the champagne," Betances said.

With the Yankees likely headed to a one-game wild-card playoff, manager Joe Girardi hopes his players will celebrate when they clinch.

"It's an accomplishment," he said.

Still, it's not what the Yankees envisioned when they led the division by seven games before play on July 29. This would mark the first time New York failed to finish first in a season in which it led by more than six games.

Yankees relievers have struck out an AL-record 573 batters, two more than the previous mark for bullpens set by New York last year and 16 shy of the big league record established by Colorado in 2012. Wilson and Miller each fanned two.

"If I go out there and have a clean seventh, Dellin wants to do something better than I did, and the same for Andrew. We feed off each other, and it's kind of like a brotherhood," Wilson said. "With Dellin behind me and Andrew behind him, of course it breeds confidence."

Shaking off second-half control and command issues, Betances has a 1.36 earned-run average. Miller, who got his 36th save in 38 chances, is at 1.97.

"It's just mentality," Betances said. "I was getting behind, in certain counts, and I didn't want to make a mistakes, especially with guys on. I didn't want to give up the lead any time I was in. Today I was just being aggressive in the zone."

Wilson has thrown seven 1-2-3 innings, while Miller has 23 and Betances 24, according to STATS.

"There's no way that we have this opportunity without those three guys," Girardi said.

Warren retired 11 consecutive batters before walking the bases loaded in the fifth, then got out of the jam by striking out Abreu. He lasted six innings and 88 pitches in his third outing since returning to the rotation. He has a 6.88 ERA in the first inning of his 17 starts along with a .357 opponents' batting average, but a 2.96 ERA and .218 average after.

Power arms

Yankees relievers have struck out an AL record 573 batters, two more than the previous mark for bullpens set by New York last year.

Trainer's room

White Sox: DH Adam LaRoche was back in the starting lineup after being given Friday off. LaRoche, who has a sore right knee, didn't play between Sept. 13 and Thursday's series opener.

Yankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka's strained right hamstring felt better, and New York manager Joe Girardi is "pretty confident" Tanaka will pitch before the end of the regular season. … RHP Nathan Eovaldi, sidelined since Sept. 5 by right elbow inflammation, started playing catch Friday.

Up next

Luis Severino (4-3) starts for the Yankees in Sunday's series finale, and Erik Johnson (3-0) opens for the White Sox.