Attention other White Sox starters - Phil Humber just drew your map to victory. All you have to do is turn in a credible no-hit bid, and allow zero runs, and you should be set.
The new White Sox stopper turned in the start of his career. Humber took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, looking as dominant as a guy with his stuff could. He only struck out five over his seven innings, but he grabbed first-pitch strikes often, and the Yankees seldom squared him up.
Alex Rodriguez ruined Humber's unlikely run. Humber had just walked Mark Teixeira after getting ahead of him 0-2, and Rodriguez bounced a single back through the box. That just didn't ruin the no-hitter - it put a threat together, as Humber clung to a 1-0 lead.
Humber didn't waver. He came back to strike out Robinson Cano on a high fastball, and then got Nick Swisher to bounce out to first to complete seven shutout innings. Humber threw 100 pitches; 66 for strikes. That's a neat percentage, since he also threw first-pitch strikes to two out of three hitters.
(Also, 32 of those strikes were foul balls.)
The White Sox bullpen, facing its first real relief job in two weeks, got Humber the win for his efforts. Ozzie Guillen tried something new, and it worked. Sergio Santos didn't just earn his first save of the season - it was of the four-out variety. Hooray, situational decisions!
Chris Sale set up Santos by retiring the first two batters in the eighth. He struck out the second batter, Russell Martin, with three straight fastballs after falling behind 3-0. With Andruw Jones coming to the plate, Guillen called for Santos. Joe Girardi countered with Eric Chavez, who grounded a single past Paul Konerko. Pinch-runner Eduardo Nunez stole second, but Santos got Derek Jeter to bounce back to the mound to end the eighth.
Santos' ninth inning started in a similar fashion. Curtis Granderson roped a single to right, but Santos rebounded by getting Teixeira to ground into a 3-6-1 double play. He then avenged the death of Humber's no-hitter by striking out Rodriguez with a slider in the dirt to end it.
Santos did have the benefit of an insurance run in the ninth - although it was quite fluky. Alexei Ramirez's pop-up dropped behind the mound for a single. After a fielder's choice, Brent Lillibridge stole second, then came around to score on Konerko's RBI single.
The Sox offense needed the Yankees' help on their first run, too. Carlos Quentin started the fourth inning with a line drive off the end of his bat. Granderson got a bad read, breaking back first before coming in. He came up short on his dive, and the ball got past him, giving Quentin a double instead of a single. He scored on a pair of groundouts for the game's first run.
That run was the only blemish on a fine night by A.J. Burnett. He allowed just three hits over eight innings.
Notes:
*Alex Rios snapped an 0-for-22 slump with a single to left. In his next at-bat, he grounded into a double play, and he didn't even come close to beating it out.
*Adam Dunn had a better night. Along with the RBI groundout (which was well-hit), he singled and drew two walks.
Record: 9-14 | Box score | Play-by-play