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CHICAGO — A week of laughers gave way to a nail-biter on Saturday night.
And yet, the Yankees winning streak remains alive and well.
After a small-ball approach did not work in the 10th inning, the Yankees strung an old-fashioned rally together in the top of the 11th to capture their seventh straight win, 5-3 over the White Sox at Rate Field.
Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe all went the other way for run-scoring hits off lefty reliever Tyler Alexander to lift the Yankees (76-60) in dramatic fashion after Devin Williams had blown a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning.
In relief of David Bednar, who threw two scoreless frames (including stranding the winning run at third base in the bottom of the 10th), Camilo Doval retired the White Sox (48-88) in order in the 11th, allowing the automatic runner to score but nothing else.
With the Blue Jays losing again, the Yankees pulled within two games of them for the division lead — the closest they have been since the All-Star break.
They also gained another game on the Red Sox, now leading them by 1 ¹/₂ games for the top AL wild-card spot.
Volpe led off the top of the 10th by laying down a sacrifice bunt that moved automatic runner Austin Wells to third.
But that was quickly erased as Ryan McMahon hit a chopper to second with the infield in and Wells, who was running on contact, was easily thrown out before he ever got close to home plate.
The Yankees eventually stranded a pair of runners when Trent Grisham struck out chasing a ball in the dirt.
After throwing a scoreless ninth, Bednar came back out for the bottom of the 10th and began by getting a groundout that moved the automatic runner to third base.
The Yankees then pulled José Caballero in from right field to use a five-man infield against Lenyn Sosa, who nearly won it with a fly ball down the right field line before it landed just foul.
Bednar eventually struck out Sosa before getting a fly out to send the game to the 11th.
Before Saturday, the Yankees had won their past six games by a combined score of 53-16.
The Yankees had just taken a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh on Wells’ home run when Williams replaced Cam Schlittler for the bottom of the inning.
His second pitch ended up in the right field corner for a double by Curtis Mead, and one out later, Chase Meidroth slapped a single up the middle to tie the game at two.
It marked the first earned run Williams has allowed since Aug. 8, going eight appearances without one in between.
The Mets (Jonah Tong) and Red Sox (Payton Tolle) made waves this week by calling up a young pitcher to help with their respective playoff pushes.
The Yankees played that card last month with Schlittler — selected 11 picks after Tong in the seventh round of the 2022 draft — and by now what the fireballing right-hander is doing has become the norm.
Schlittler shut down yet another opposing lineup, this time giving up just one run across six innings with eight strikeouts.
He allowed just four hits, only two of which left the infield, as he continues to make a case for a rotation spot in October.
The 24-year-old Schlittler has a 2.61 ERA through his first nine big league starts, with 54 strikeouts across 48 ¹/₃ innings.
After Schlittler threw his career-high 100th and final pitch to end the sixth inning, his batterymate broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh as Wells crushed a solo shot off White Sox rookie right-hander Shane Smith.
It marked Wells’ 19th home run of the season and second in his past three games, offering more hope that his bat might be coming alive again after struggling for an extended stretch.
Aaron Judge had put the Yankees up 1-0 in the fourth inning with his 42nd home run of the year, a 429-foot shot off Smith.
He has yet to find a groove since returning from the IL for a right elbow flexor strain on Aug. 5 — he entered Saturday batting .216 with a .827 OPS in 22 games since — but he has slugged five home runs in that stretch to maintain a power presence.
