Sonny Gray holds fort for 3 extra innings as Yankees win in 13

CHICAGO — Sonny Gray, bullpen stopper?

The righthander, making his first relief appearance since being demoted from the rotation, was terrific over three innings Tuesday night, earning the win in the Yankees’ 4-3 victory over the White Sox in 13 innings in front of 19,643 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

“I’ve honestly just been sitting around waiting to get back out there,” said Gray, 8-8 with a 5.56 ERA as a starter.

Gray, showing aggressiveness on the mound rarely seen when he was in the rotation, struck out four and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings.

“Just grip it and rip it, see what happens,” said Gray, making his first relief outing since 2013 when he was with Oakland. “Let my stuff play, throw everything with conviction.”

The victory kept the Yankees (70-42), winners of two straight after dropping five in a row, nine games behind the Red Sox, who rallied in the late innings to beat Toronto.

Miguel Andujar’s two-out, RBI single off lefty Luis Avilon brought in Didi Gregorius to give the Yankees a one-run lead in the top of the 13th. Luke Voit, who pinch hit for Greg Bird in the 11th, preceded the hit by Andujar with a single that put Gregorius in scoring position.

It was the second big hit of the night for Andujar, who had a rough weekend in the field in Boston and started a second straight game at DH. Tuesday night, he gave the Yankees their first hit off White Sox righty Reynaldo Lopez, a leadoff homer in the seventh that tied it at 1.

After Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run homer in the 10th snapped a 1-1 tie, Zach Britton flushed that lead, allowing a two-run shot to Jose Abreu with two outs in the bottom half.

“The team picked me up,” Britton said. “But Sonny coming out, the performance he had was the highlight of the night.”

Gray struck out two in a perfect 11th, stranded two in the 12th, and pitched a perfect 13th.

With the Yankees wanting to stay away from Aroldis Chapman, who was feeling some discomfort in his back after throwing 39 pitches in his ninth-inning collapse Sunday night in Boston, Britton came on.

It did not go well as the lefty hit the first batter he faced, threw two wild pitches and allowed the game-tying homer to Abreu on a 1-and-1 sinker.

“Poorly executed pitch and that’s what a good hitter does to a bad pitch,” Britton said.

Stanton, 59-for-177 (.333) since June 16 coming into the night, went 2-for-5. His two-run homer with two outs in the 10th off righthander Tyler Danish, brought in specifically to face him, on a hanging full-count breaking ball, made it 3-1. Pinch hitter Brett Gardner got aboard with one out, drawing a walk.

It was a mostly lousy night from the Yankees offense before Stanton’s blast, a performance that looked as if it might waste one of CC Sabathia’s best outings of the season.

Sabathia came in 6-4 with a 3.59 ERA but struggling of late, going 1-1 with a 5.55 ERA in his previous five starts. In the last two of those outings, Sabathia lasted a combined 7 2/3 innings.

But Tuesday night, Sabathia allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings, striking out a season-high 12.

According to baseball researcher Katie Sharp, the 38-year-old Sabathia became the second-oldest Yankee with 12 strikeouts in a game. Roger Clemens, at the age of 39, had 13 strikeouts in two separate games in 2002.

The White Sox (41-72) got their lone run off Sabathia in the third on a sacrifice fly.

Not surprisingly, Sabathia, who is close to Gray, started his postgame remarks talking about his friend’s outing.

“Everybody in here was fired up for Sonny,” Sabathia said. “It’s been a rough week for him but for him to come back and perform like that was huge.”