NEW YORK -- The White Sox are headed home after a winning road trip. They also earned a split of a four-game series here at Yankee Stadium against the hottest team in the majors.
But the White Sox will probably feel as if they let a series victory slip away on Sunday afternoon after they lost their second straight game to the New York Yankees, 4-2. Combined with a win by the Cleveland Indians, the White Sox saw their American League Central lead decrease to one and a half games.
Yankees starter Phil Hughes (9-6) gave up a pair of first-inning runs and then settled in to shut down the White Sox. The right-hander retired 22 of the last 26 batters he faced before Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close it out.
Hughes limited the White Sox to two runs and six hits in eight innings and finished with eight strikeouts.
Gavin Floyd (6-8) wasnt quite as sharp.
Fresh off his best two starts of the season, Floyd got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam unscathed in the bottom of the first. But the Yankees got two-run home runs from Eric Chavez and Robinson Cano in each of the next two innings to charge back and take a 4-2 lead.
Floyd didnt allow any more runs even though he yielded eight hits and walked five in 5 13 innings.
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The White Sox scored twice in the top of the first inning on RBI singles by Kevin Youkilis and Alex Rios.
Rios just missed a two-run homer in the third inning and settled for a two-out double. But Hughes got A.J. Pierzynski to pop out to end the inning.
The White Sox won the first two games of this four-game series in grand fashion. Dayan Viciedos three-run homer keyed Thursdays 4-3 win and the White Sox had 21 hits in a 14-7 victory on Friday. But the Yankees cruised to wins the last two days as they held the White Sox to two runs.