Mitre shakes off rust, pitches sharply into 7th as Yankees shut down White Sox 10-0

Yanks’ Mitre shakes off rust, shuts down White Sox

NEW YORK — Sergio Mitre sure looked a little rusty at the start. He bounced a pitch to the backstop to the first batter, then did it again with the next guy.

Maybe that just meant his sinker was supercharged.

Mitre shook off an extended layoff and excelled before getting struck in the forearm by a liner in the seventh inning, combining with Chad Gaudin on a one-hitter to lead the New York Yankees past the slumping Chicago White Sox 10-0 Saturday.

Working for the first time since a relief outing eight days ago, Mitre (3-1) was perfect until Jim Thome ripped a bad-hop double past two-time Gold Glove first baseman Mark Teixeira with one out in the fifth.

“Definitely, it was a lot better than what I’ve been doing,” said Mitre, who started with a 6.82 ERA. “It’s really gratifying.”

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was disgusted after a sixth loss in seven games.

“I’m embarrassed. Everybody in that room should be embarrassed,” he said, mixing in a few expletives but never shouting. “When you have more errors than hits, you better look yourself in the mirror.

“I watched Little League this morning and they played better. This is not major league ball,” he said. “I’m getting a lot of money to manage this team, and I feel like I’m stealing money from (chairman) Jerry Reinsdorf.”

The lone hit came when Thome scorched a one-hopper down the line to Teixeira’s glove side. The ball took a wicked skip over Teixeira’s mitt.

“It was by me before I could blink,” Teixeira said.

Added Yankees manager Joe Girardi: “If anyone’s going to make it, he’s the one. He had no chance on that ball.”

Mitre left with a bruise after being nailed by A.J. Pierzynski’s liner, and Gaudin closed with 2 2-3 hitless innings.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 576th homer, and Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano each got three of New York’s 14 hits. Jose Contreras (5-13) fell behind 8-0 in the fourth and leads the AL in losses.

Mitre struck out two and beat the team that tagged him for a season-high five earned runs last month.

The Yankees’ No. 5 starter issued his lone walk to Brent Lillibridge leading off the seventh. Pierzynski followed with a liner up the middle that hit Mitre before he could get his glove up. Mitre recovered the ball behind the mound and threw out Pierzynski.

Girardi and a trainer looked at Mitre, and the right-hander trotted off to a nice ovation. X-rays were negative, and Mitre’s arm was bandaged after the game. He said he’d see Sunday whether the swelling had gone done.

Mitre felt lucky the ball avoided his elbow. He missed the 2008 season after Tommy John surgery on that elbow, and served a 50-game suspension at the start of this year after a positive test for a banned substance.

“It’s been a long way back,” he said.

The White Sox made three errors on a misty afternoon, and second baseman Jayson Nix’s second miscue of the game was the team’s AL-high 100th of the season. Right fielder Jermaine Dye slipped and fell while retrieving Hideki Matsui’s double, and still made the relay from flat on his back.

“It was a total team loss,” Pierzynski said.

On the other side, Rodriguez made a nifty, backhanded dive on a hot shot down the third-base line and Cano ranged far up the middle for another grounder.

Later, Jeter jumped high to knock down a liner and get a forceout. The shortstop also flashed quick reflexes while on deck — he neatly plucked Jose Molina’s foul as it ricocheted off the backstop and handed the souvenir to a young girl.

A ball that tipped off the glove of diving White Sox left fielder Scott Podsednik keyed a four-run burst in the second. Cano’s sliced fly wound up as a double, and Jerry Hairston Jr. and Johnny Damon delivered two-run doubles.

A pair of bad throws on the same play helped New York score four more in the fourth for an 8-0 lead. Jeter was trapped off second base on Damon’s comebacker, but Contreras overthrew shortstop Alexei Ramirez. Nix alertly backed up and caught the errant toss on the fly, then bounced a throw to third in an effort to get Jeter.

Contreras gave up a season-high eight runs. He’s lost six straight starts overall against the Yankees, the team he pitched for in the 2003 World Series as a rookie.

“I wish I had another choice besides Josie,” Guillen said.

NOTES: It was the Yankees’ second one-hitter this season. A.J. Burnett and the bullpen did it against the Mets on June 27. … Yankees C Jorge Posada got another day off to heal his bruised left ring finger. Injured Wednesday, he could return to the lineup Sunday. … White Sox 1B coach Harold Baines was in Baltimore, where he was inducted into the Orioles’ Hall of Fame.