Viciedo's homer keys late rally as Sox stun Yankees

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NEW YORK -- Dayan Viciedo ended a frustrating evening for himself and the White Sox with one loud swing on Thursday.

The left fielder made the New York Yankees pay for a ninth-inning error as he blasted a three-run homer off David Robertson to give the White Sox a shocking 4-3 victory at Yankee Stadium.

Viciedo --- who was hitting .157 in June when he came to bat in the ninth --- followed a throwing-error on a potential double play with a homer on 1-0 pitch against Robertson that left a crowd of 44,041 in stunned silence.

The White Sox were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position against Ivan Nova and Co. prior to Viciedos blast to left.

Alex Rios led off the ninth inning with a single against reliever Cody Eppley and he advanced to third when Clay Rapada threw A.J. Pierzynskis comebacker into center field. Robertson was called upon instead of closer Rafael Soriano, who had pitched four of the last five days. Robertson threw Viciedo a ball before he caught up to a 90-mph fastball for his 14th homer.

Viciedo earlier lined into an inning-ending double play to end the fourth with runners on the corners against Nova, who settled in nicely after an early high-wire act.

Aside from Alejandro De Aza, who went 4-for-5, nobody had any luck against Nova even though he allowed plenty of contact. Kevin Youkilis hit the ball hard twice and also took a called third strike with the tying run on second in the eighth inning against Nova. Adam Dunn was robbed of a hit by Teixeira in the third with a man on.

But the most difficult inning for the White Sox was the top of the fourth. Paul Konerko doubled and moved to third on a Rios single. But Konerko couldnt tag up on Pierzynskis line out to center before Viciedo lined into a double play.

The bad luck appeared to leave Dylan Axelrod on the hook for a rough loss.

Axelrod spoke with total confidence earlier this week when he discussed pitching at Yankee Stadium.

It didnt matter that he hadnt pitched in front of many big crowds aside from his College World Series experience in 2007. He wasnt worried he would be making only his sixth career start. He didnt think to consider what it would take to face a loaded Yankees lineup in front of 44,041 fans.

Axelrod said he would relish the opportunity because pitching with adrenaline only makes him sharper. Then he went out and backed up his words.

Axelrod benefitted from good White Sox defense early, but also successfully navigated his way through a lineup loaded with hitters for seven innings.

Mixing his offspeed pitches, Axelrod kept the Yankees off-balance. He struck out Alex Rodriguez with a 3-2 slider in the first inning and retired Robinson Cano on a grounder ---- both with a man at second.

Axelrod set down nine of the first 11 he faced before he got into trouble as he loaded the bases in the fourth inning with two outs. But Axelrod got Eric Chavez to groundout on a first-pitch slider to keep the game scoreless.

Axelrod couldnt hang on to the 1-0 lead he was given when De Aza hit a second-deck homer to right in the fifth off Nova.

In the bottom of the fifth, Rodriguez and Cano both doubled in runs to take a 2-1 lead.

The Yankees --- who are sixth in baseball with 355 runs --- didnt add on until Teixeira hit a solo home run off Hector Santiago in the eighth as Axelrod posted two more scoreless innings.

Axelrod limited the Yankees to two runs, six hits and walked three batters in seven innings as he threw strikes on 69 of 115 pitches.

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