Yanks eye pitching repeat in rubber game vs. White Sox

During a four-game losing streak, many things plagued the New York Yankees, especially pitching.

On Saturday, the Yankees delivered their best pitching performance of the young season, holding the Chicago White Sox to one hit in a 4-0 win.

The Yankees hope they can follow up their dominance on the mound and start getting on a roll Sunday afternoon when they host the White Sox in the finale of a three-game series.

The Yankees evened the series when four pitchers combined on a one-hitter in a game that took 2 hours, 28 minutes. CC Sabathia, activated from the injured list earlier in the day, pitched the first five innings, and Domingo German pitched the next two before Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman finished it.

"I always feel like I need to pitch good," Sabathia said. "It didn't really matter what we were going through. You want to go out and perform every time."

It was New York's first one-hit shutout since Sept. 22, 2014, and its first shutout with one hit or less and no walks since Mike Mussina lost his perfect game bid with two outs in the ninth at Fenway Park on Sept. 2, 2001.

"Just having him back and getting this win, this is the start of something right here," Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said of Sabathia.

The strong showing on the mound occurred after New York's pitchers posted an 8.01 ERA in three games in Houston and Friday's rain-shortened 9-6 loss in the series opener.

"The pitchers were great today," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Chicago has lost six of its last seven games since scoring 10 runs on April 5 against Seattle. The White Sox were held to one hit in New York for the first time since Aug. 29, 2009, and their 4-9 record matches their worst 13-game start since 1987 (also 1997, 2010 and 2018).

"We have to score runs if we want to win games," White Sox slugger Jose Abreu said through an interpreter. "We couldn't do it today but we have to tip our caps to CC."

Besides being shutout for the first time this season, Tim Anderson saw his season-opening 10-game hitting streak stopped Saturday.

The pitching matchup for the rubber game will be one of Opening Day starters as Masahiro Tanaka opposes Chicago's Carlos Rodon.

Tanaka will pitch on five-days rest Sunday and has allowed just one earned run in each of his first three starts. He last pitched Monday in Houston, when he allowed one run in six innings while throwing 78 pitches.

Tanaka is 4-1 with a 2.75 ERA in six career starts against the White Sox.

Rodon will make his fourth start of the season for the White Sox and struggled with his control in his last outing. On Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays, he allowed four runs and issued five walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Rodon is 2-3 with a 5.88 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees and 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA in two starts in New York. He last faced the Yankees Aug. 27, when he allowed two runs in seven innings.

--Field Level Media