Yanks Beat White Sox By Blowout, 9-1, After Rain Delay

Coming off a tough loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, the questions surrounding the New York Yankees was whether they would be able to rebound from the loss. They answered all of those questions on Monday, putting up eight runs in the 4th to down the Chicago White Sox, 9-1.

"This time of year, you want to get some games like this," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You can not use some guys in the bullpen, get some guys out a little early and maybe give them a little bit of rest. You just want to keep tacking on runs, and that's what they did in that big inning."

After a near two-hour rain delay knocked starter Phil Hughes out of the with one out in the 2nd, David Huff stepped in and helped lead the Yankees to victory, holding the White Sox fairly quiet through the 7th inning.

Prior the the rain delay, the Yankees jumped on the board to take a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, following a double by Brett Gardner to open the inning -- the third straight game in which Gardner doubled in his first at-bat -- then Derek Jeter singled up the middle to drive in Gardner.

With a runner in first base and one-out in the second inning, Hughes had put Avisail Garcia into a 0-2 count before the rain started pouring down on Yankee Stadium, leading homeplate umpire Mike Everitt to call for the tarps to come out.

Following a rain delay of one hour and fifty-three minutes, Huff took over on the mound for the Yankees, and he only raised the question even more whether the Yankees should swap out Huff and Hughes, moving Huff into the Yankees' rotation.

He went 5 2/3 innings, giving up just one-run on five hits -- the only run was a solo homerun to Paul Konerko -- and he didn't walk a batter, while also striking out three on 62 pitches (48 strikes).

"Attacking them," Huff said. "Attacking them with fastballs and changeups, throwing a lot of strikes and just trying to get that first-pitch strike and get them in a hole."

"He did a really nice job," Girardi said. "He's pitched well for us. Those were big innings for us where we didn't have to use like four or five guys in the bullpen, and that helps."

Then entering the 4th inning, still leading 1-0, the Yankees exploded for eight-runs in an inning that felt like it lasted longer then the rain delay. The inning started when Alex Rodriguez doubled, then Vernon Wells on an infield single to short. Curtis Granderson walked to load the bases, then another infield single scored A-Rod.

Austin Romine followed with a two-run single to make it a 4-0 game, the Gardner's second double of the day scored Reynolds to make it 5-0. Derek Jeter made it 6-0 on an infield single off the pitcher, then Robinson Cano popped out for the first out of the inning.

Alfonso Soriano then doubled home his 37th RBI while with the Yankees, then a batter later, Wells drove in two more runs on a double play groundball to the first baseman that was thrown into left field. In all, the Yankees sent 13 batters to the plate in their biggest inning of the season.

"It was just one of those innings, and you don't see it happen too often. It's very difficult to do," said Jeter. "We were fortunate that we got some bounces that went our way, but for the most part, we had some good at-bats up and down the lineup."

Cesar Cabral made his major league debut in the top of the 8th inning, striking out the first batter he faced on three pitches. He ended up striking out another batter, while also permitting one base hit.

JR Murphy also made his major league debut in the 8th inning, pinch-hitting for Cano in the bottom half of the inning. He ripped a groundball down the third base side, beating it out for an infield singled for his first big league hit. Murphy was the 52nd player used by the Yanks this season -- a franchise record.

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