Lance Lynn pitches Yankees out of doldrums in big way | Rapid reaction

Yankees snap season-long five-game losing streak and rebound from terrible trip to Boston by beating White Sox on Monday night in Chicago.

CHICAGO — Monday was a day for Yankees fans to sulk and complain about the latest Boston Massacre, those humbling four losses in four days at Fenway Park to the hated Red Sox.

And, wow, did Sunday night’s sting or what? The Yankees were up three runs in the ninth with Aroldis Chapman pitching and lost in 10 to fall 9 1/2 games back in the American League East.

Aaron Boone ripped on Twitter after Red Sox disaster

Because it’s August, for sure the Yankees’ new reality is that the Red Sox probably will win the division for the third year in a row.

But a new day in a new city against a bad team was an opportunity to stop the bleeding, and the Yankees managed to do that rather impressively by skunking the Chicago White Sox 7-0 in the opener of a three-game series.

On a night in which Gleyber Torres and Neil Walker homered, the best part of this overdue Yankees victory that ended their season-long losing streak at five games was Lance Lynn, the big righty who already is making GM Brian Cashman look good for getting him from the Minnesota Twins a day before last week’s July 31 trade deadline.

Lynn was something special starting for the St. Louis Cardinals for a few years, and he was all that Monday night pitching a two-hit shutout over 7 1/3 innings in his first start since taking Sonny Gray’s rotation spot.

A 6-foot-5, 280 pounder, Lynn struck out nine, walked one and at one point retired 19 in a row after Daniel Palka reached on a two-out single to short in the first inning.

Lynn went back out for the eighth with his pitch count at 103, then was pulled five pitches later after Nicky Delmonico grounded a leadoff single to right and Tim Anderson hit a can-of-corn flyball to right.

It surely didn’t hurt that Lynn got a good night’s rest Sunday night. The Yankees’ charter from Boston didn’t land in Chicago until 4:30 Monday morning local time and then the team had to bus to downtown, but Lynn skipped Sunday’s game to catch an earlier flight.

Early on Monday night, Lynn seemed destined to have a short night, as he needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning. The rest of his night was much easier.

Even though the Yankees’ opponent was the dreadful White Sox, who now are 41-71, this Lynn outing springs hope that maybe they’ve found another ace. That’s what he was pitching for St. Louis from 2011-15 and 2017 when he was 72-47 with a 3.38 and an 18-win season in 2012, a year in which he was a National League All-Star.

This tremendous outing by Lynn followed his superb Yankees debut last Wednesday at Yankee Stadium when he worked 4 1/3 shutout innings in relief of Gray, who was bombed for seven runs over 2 2/3 innings in a loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

NOTABLE

—Yankees left-hander J.A. Happ is over his bout with hand, foot and mouth disease and will come off the disabled list Thursday to pitch that night against the Texas Rangers.

–With the Yankees leading 2-0 in the fourth, Greg Bird was robbed of a three-run homer when White Sox center fielder Adam Engel reached over the wall in left-center to make a great grab.

–White Sox third baseman Matt Davidson pitched a scoreless eighth inning in his third relief appearance of the season. Giancarlo Stanton whiffed for the second out on a 71-mph curveball in the dirt that followed a 92-mph fastball.

LOOKING AHEAD

Tuesday: Yankees at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 p.m., EST, YES. LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.59) vs. RHP Reynaldo Lopez (4-9, 4.47).

Wednesday: Yankees at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 p.m., EST, YES. RHP Luis Severino (14-5, 3.08) vs. RHP Lucas Giolito (7-8, 5.97).

Thursday: Texas Rangers at Yankees, 7:10 p.m., YES. RHP Ariel Jurado (2-1, 4.02) vs. LHP J.A. Happ (11-6, 4.05).

Friday: Texas Rangers at Yankees, 7:10 p.m., YES. LHP Mike Minor (8-6, 4.53) vs. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (9-2, 3.76).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.