• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Floyd strong as White Sox top Yankees

Sep 17, 2008 - 3:56 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- For one night, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen did not have to earn his salary by extensively using his struggling bullpen.

Gavin Floyd pitched seven solid innings as the White Sox posted a 6-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday.

Alexei Ramirez homered off Andy Pettitte and Paul Konerko had an RBI double in his return from a knee injury. Juan Uribe also drove in two runs for the White Sox (84-66), who increased their lead over the Minnesota Twins (82-69) to 2 1/2 games in the American League Central. Minnesota lost, 12-9, in 11 innings at Cleveland.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Brian Anderson also drove in runs for the White Sox, who had four runs and six hits in six innings off Pettitte (13-14).

That supported Floyd (16-7), who allowed two runs and nine hits and improved to 9-2 following a Chicago loss. Floyd threw a season-high 116 pitches and allowed an RBI double to Johnny Damon in the third and Jason Giambi's 31st home run in the fourth.

The combination of Floyd's sixth win in seven decisions and the three-run inning off Pettitte was enough to avoid major use of the bullpen, which blew a seven-run lead Sunday by surrendering two runs in the seventh in Monday's loss and had a 6.44 ERA in the previous 13 games.

"I definitely wanted to stay out there as long as possible," Floyd said. "They had some long at-bats, which kept driving my pitch count up. But I kept the same mentality and really just to work out and keep the team in the lead."

Matt Thornton threw 32 pitches in the eighth, working around a one-out walk to Giambi that prompted Bobby Jenks to start warming up. Thornton eventually worked out of it by finishing off an eight-pitch at-bat to Robinson Cano with a strikeout.

Jenks came in and needed 10 pitches to finish off Chicago's second win in its last eight games at New York.

Floyd will also be the answer to a trivia question as he gave up Derek Jeter's 1,270th hit - a first-inning single - moving him past Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig for first place on New York's all-time Yankee Stadium list. The Yankees captain finished 2-for-3.

"I think it's good to try and get it over with," Jeter said of reaching the milestone. "We needed a hit in that situation. We're trying to score some runs. Ideally we could have been in a better position."

The first four Chicago hitters reached in the decisive fourth and the White Sox snapped a 1-1 tie when Griffey singled up the middle. They added two more as Konerko lined a single to left and Uribe drew a bases-loaded walk.

"I felt good," Konerko said. "I just tried to get going at the plate. My swing felt all right."

The Yankees had chances to come back but did not capitalize much off the righthander as they were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

In a game in which he never trailed, Floyd's biggest out came with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth when had a 12-pitch encounter with Giambi. Floyd fell behind and then Giambi fouled off seven pitches, including five in a row before it ended with a strikeout, maintaining Chicago's 4-2 lead.

"It was a key point in the game," Floyd said. "There was a couple. I just tried to make my pitches because you never know what's going to happen."

"He doesn't give in," Guillen said. "He won the battle. I went out and asked him how he felt. He gave me a good answer and I left him in."

Chicago added a run apiece in the seventh and eighth off relievers Jose Veras and Dan Giese, respectively. Anderson made it 5-2 with a double to left in the seventh and Uribe lined another run-scoring double in the eighth.

The Yankees failed to win their fourth in a row and fell to 3-2 on their final homestand. They also saw Pettitte continue his second-half swoon as the veteran lefthander dropped his fifth consecutive start.

"It's wonderful to watch them do what they're doing. It's kind of sick to watch me doing what I'm doing right now," Pettitte said. "But it's great to see those guys do what they're doing, that's for sure."