Major League Baseball

White Sox-Yankees Preview

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:11 p.m. ET

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For all the woes the New York Yankees have been through, they have a chance Sunday to capture a third straight series to complete this homestand with their best pitcher on the mound.

The unbeaten Masahiro Tanaka just turned in his worst outing of the year as he gets the ball in this three-game series finale against the Chicago White Sox.

New York (15-20) put another player on the disabled list Saturday in struggling starter Luis Severino, who joins CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez as key injured Yankees.

One bit of good news is that Jacoby Ellsbury will likely return to the lineup for the first time since suffering a hip injury May 6. He saw his first action since that contest as a defensive replacement Saturday.

Last-place New York improved to 6-3 on the homestand with Saturday's 2-1 victory. The Yankees captured series against Boston and Kansas City and now can hand the White Sox a fourth loss in five games.

They'll turn to their best starter in Tanaka (1-0, 3.11 ERA), who allowed a season-high six runs over seven innings Tuesday in a no-decision in a 10-7 win over Kansas City. He posted a 2.29 ERA in his first six outings.

The right-hander won his lone career start versus Chicago (24-13) on May 25, 2014, yielding one run over 6 2/3 innings in a 7-1 rout. Brett Lawrie is 2 for 9 against him and Melky Cabrera is 2 for 6 with a homer.

Tanaka will be backed by a bullpen that has thrown 15 2/3 scoreless innings, including 9 2/3 in this series. Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman struck out eight in 3 1/3 innings Saturday.

''We knew these would be the type of games that we would use all three of them, and that if we could line them up, it'd be pretty good,'' manager Joe Girardi said.

New York has mustered three runs and 11 hits in this series. Brett Gardner is in a 1-for-12 slide and Mark Teixeira a 2-for-19 rut.

Those hitters have had different results against Miguel Gonzalez (0-0, 4.91), who has 12 starts versus the Yankees for his third-most against an opponent. Gardner is 7 for 24 against him while Teixeira has a double in 14 at-bats.

The right-hander is 3-4 with a 4.03 ERA against the Yankees, going 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA in his last five outings in the Bronx.

Gonzalez was recalled from the minors May 9 and has made two starts, pitching into the sixth inning in Toronto and Texas.

"For him, we look at he's had two tough lineups, both on the road," manager Robin Ventura told the White Sox's official website. "I think he's done a great job of being able to control that."

Todd Frazier went deep Saturday for the White Sox, giving him five homers and 14 RBIs over his last seven games. Leadoff man Adam Eaton is 4 for 8 in the series and batting .462 in his career versus New York for his best mark against any team.

Yankees shortstop Starlin Castro went 0 for 4 on Saturday as an eight-game hit streak in which he batted .345 ended.

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