CHICAGO (AP) - John Danks patted Zach Putnam on his right shoulder as he walked by his locker. There was nothing more to say.
Danks had his best start of the season for the Chicago White Sox, but the New York Yankees got to Ronald Belisario for three runs in the ninth and won 4-3 on Jacoby Ellsbury’s two-out homer off Putnam in the 10th inning.
“That’s part of it; it’s baseball,” Danks said. “There’s really nothing we can do about it. I truly hope Belisario’s in to save my next game.”
Ellsbury drove a 1-0 pitch from Putnam (2-1) over the wall in right for his second homer. Putnam had allowed just one run in 16 innings over his previous 11 appearances.
Dellin Betances (3-0) pitched a perfect inning for the win and David Robertson finished for his 10th save in 11 chances, bouncing back nicely after yielding Adam Dunn’s game-ending homer in Chicago’s 6-5 victory on Friday night.
Adam Eaton singled and stole second with two down, but Robertson struck out Gordon Beckham to end the game. Eaton and Beckham, the top of Chicago’s lineup, had three hits apiece.
“Last night was a tough one. The team battled really hard, we got the lead and I wasn’t able to nail it down,” Robertson said. “They did the same thing today and I was not going to let them down today.”
Danks pitched eight shutout innings. The left-hander, who was 1-4 with an 8.23 ERA in his previous five starts, allowed three hits, struck out four and walked none.
“I thought he was jumping ahead,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He had a great changeup working. Curveball, he was able to locate. I think when he’s able to do that, he becomes tough.”
Belisario then came in to pitch the ninth in his fourth save opportunity of the season. The right-hander took over as closer after Matt Lindstrom injured his left ankle last Monday at Kansas City.
Ellsbury reached on a one-out single, but Belisario was in position for his third save when he struck out Mark Teixeira for the second out. Then it all fell apart in a hurry for the closer, who has allowed at least one run in each of his last three outings.
“That’s the game,” Belisario said. “I’m making good pitches. They hit it. I don’t even know where. No luck today.”
Ellsbury took second on fielder’s indifference and scored on Alfonso Soriano’s ground-rule double. Yangervis Solarte singled home Soriano and moved to second when Belisario walked Ichiro Suzuki.
Pinch-hitter Brian McCann then completed the comeback with a bloop single into center field, driving in Solarte with the tying run. Brendan Ryan grounded out to end the inning, and the crowd of 33,413 booed as Belisario made his way to the dugout.
“Obviously huge at-bats to get us going,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We hadn’t done much up to that point.”
Teixeira’s ground-rule double in the fourth was New York’s only hit before John Ryan Murphy and Ryan had consecutive two-out singles in the eighth. But Danks got Brett Gardner to fly out to right to end the inning.
Vidal Nuno pitched seven-plus innings for New York in the longest start of the season for the converted reliever. He allowed nine hits, struck out five and walked one.
The White Sox did all their damage against Nuno in the first. Eaton and Beckham started the inning with consecutive singles, and Dayan Viciedo then made it 1-0 with a double into the gap in left-center. Dunn drove in Beckham with a sacrifice fly and Viciedo came home on Alexei Ramirez’s groundout.
NOTES: Chicago had won eight straight home games against New York. … White Sox 3B Conor Gillaspie was held out due to a sore left Achilles. He said he should be ready to play on Sunday. … Ventura was ejected in the second inning when White Sox catcher Adrian Nieto was called out for leaving the basepath while trying to avoid a tag in a rundown. … Coming into the day, Danks was 2-3 with a 7.11 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees. … Eaton has three straight multihit games. He is batting .344 (11 for 32) in his last seven games. … Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (6-1, 2.39 ERA) takes on White Sox RHP Andre Rienzo (4-0, 4.00 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday. It will be Tanaka’s first game since he picked up his first major league loss on Tuesday against the Cubs.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at https://www.twitter.com/jcohenap
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