Yankees overcome more sloppiness, rally to win on Neil Walker walk-off homer | Rapid reaction

Yankees rally from 4-0 deficit to pull out a 5-4 win on a ninth-inning homer by Neil Walker.

NEW YORK — The day after the Yankees played a lot of bad baseball, an ugly tone was set right away Wednesday night.

Chicago White Sox leadoff hitter Yolmer Sanchez rolled Yankees right-hander Lance Lynn’s seventh pitch to second base, Gleyber Torres scooped up the ball, made a good throw to first, Greg Bird squeezed it …

And dropped it!

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The early arrivers on this very muggy 96-degree night at Yankee Stadium really got on Bird, who has been a lot of them lately with his average under .200.

The sloppy play continued when third baseman Miguel Andujar booted a two-hopper trying to field it on a short hop, Ronald Torreyes not covering second base after a cutoff throw and Brett Gardner bobbling a ball that was hit into the left field corner.

By the sixth inning, the Yankees were down four runs, and very deservedly so.

They won anyway.

The Yankees used the long ball to hit their way back into the game, then they won 5-4 in the ninth on a pinch-hit walk-off homer by Neil Walker.

With one out and nobody on, Walker hit for Ronald Torreyes and blasted reliever Dylan Covey’s first offering over the right-field wall for a game-winning homer.

‘We’ve played a lot of baseball that last four weeks,” Walker said. “There’s no getting around that. Even with the two days off in three days (last week), you follow that up with a double-header a couple days later. So there’s no doubt that we’re grinding here. We’re tired. But we find ways to grind it out.”

Down 4-0, the Yankees played their way back into the game by doing what they do best.

Andujar homered with a man on in the sixth off White Sox starter James Shields to make it a 4-2 game, then Aaron Hicks tied the game in the eighth with a two-run shot off reliever Juan Minaya.

The Yanks were fortunate to even the series at a game apiece, as their mistakes once again had piled up by the middle innings.

The Yankees committed three errors in losing Monday’s series opener 6-2.

Lynn pitched a lot better than his three-run, 5 2/3-inning line, as two of the runs scored after Jonathan Holder entered a 1-0 game with two on and two outs in the sixth. Three straight hits later, the White Sox had a 4-0 lead.

NOTABLE

— Bird was 0-for-4 at the plate and now is hitless in his last 21 at-bats and batting .196, but he hit three balls very hard.

— Gary Sanchez was 1-for-4 with a homer and strikeout in a Triple-A rehab game.

— Winning pitcher Dellin Betances fanned two working a 1-2-3 ninth to run his American League record of consecutive relief appearances with at least one strikeout to 34.

— Designated hitter Luke Voit was 1-for-4 with an eighth-inning single that extended his hitting streak to a career-best six games.

LOOKING AHEAD

Wednesday, Chicago White Sox at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. RHP Reynaldo Lopez (5-9, 4.66) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (8-9, 4.84).

Thursday, Detroit Tigers at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. TBA vs. LHP J.A. Happ (15-6, 3.80).

Friday, Detroit Tigers at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. TBA vs. RHP Luis Severino (17-6, 3.27).

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