Cano walks off

Robinson Cano hit a walk-off three-run home run in the 10th inning to defeat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

The duel between CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle lived up to the hype for the most part.  Sabathia struck out 10 through seven and Buehrle only allowed two solo home runs – from Derek Jeter to lead off the game and Johnny Damon in the third inning – over six innings.

Sabathia had a 2-0 lead until the seventh.  But Jermaine Dye led off with a double, Carlos Quentin walked and Alex Rios hit an RBI double to cut the lead to 2-1.  After a line out, Alex Rodriguez, with Ramon Castro batting, made a nice throw home to cut down the lead runner at the plate.  He also saved another run when he made a diving stab at third to hold Jayson Nix to a leadoff single.  Gordon Beckham then singled to right to tie the game at 2, but Nick Swisher’s throw home beat Castro to the plate for the third out of the inning.

After that, it was a battle of the bullpens.  Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera and Brian Bruney each pitched scoreless innings, while Matt Thornton and Scott Linebrink combined for three shutout innings as well.

But in the bottom of the 10th, Randy Williams walked two batters with two outs before Cano came out.  He then belted one into the Yankees’ bullpen in right center to win the game.

The Yankees have now reached 80 wins with tonight’s victory.  Sergio Mitre will start tomorrow’s game, with first pitch at 1:05 p.m.