August 13, 1996: Yankees lose to White Sox 8-4

David Weathers was touched up again tonight, surrendering six runs (five earned) over four-and-one-thirds innings pitched. The Yankees ended up falling to the White Sox by a score of 8-4.

Paul O'Neill, who is now officially out of his slump, paced the offense by hitting a three-run home run in in the top of the fifth inning. It gave the Yankees a short-lived 4-1 lead, as Weathers would allow a five-spot in the bottom half. Bob Wickman, Dale Polley and Jim Mecir closed out the game, allowing a total of two runs.

With the loss and a Baltimore win, the Yankees' lead in the division now stands at 7.5 games, the lowest it's been in nearly a month. The Yankees will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow afternoon when Andy Pettitte starts against James Baldwin.

Box score and current stats

          1 2 3  4 5 6  7 8 9  R  H  E
          - - -  - - -  - - -  -  -  -
Yankees   0 1 0  0 3 0  0 0 0  4  9  1
White Sox 0 0 1  0 5 0  2 0 X  8 11  0

Batting     AB R H RBI BB SO  BA  OBP  SLG
                                                       
Jeter SS      4 1 3  0  1  0 .313 .371 .421
Girardi C     4 0 1  0  1  0 .302 .359 .371
ONeill RF     5 1 2  3  0  0 .303 .419 .461
Fielder DH    4 0 0  0  0  2 .249 .355 .486
B.Williams CF 4 1 1  1  0  2 .297 .376 .520
Martinez 1B   2 0 1  0  2  0 .303 .367 .472
Strawberry LF 4 0 0  0  0  0 .245 .352 .519
Duncan 3B     4 0 0  0  0  1 .324 .337 .467
Kelly 2B      3 1 1  0  0  2 .333 .429 .333
Boggs PH      1 0 0  0  0  1 .316 .394 .401

Pitching           IP H R ER BB SO  ERA
                                              
Weathers L (2-4)  4.1 7 6  5  3  3 5.33
Wickman             2 1 1  1  0  1 4.60
Polley            0.1 1 1  1  1  0 7.82
Mecir             1.1 2 0  0  0  1 4.66