CHICAGO — Lightning struck the Yankees twice Wednesday night and all but fried the Yankees’ faint hopes of getting to October.
Needing one strike in the ninth to secure a much-needed victory over the White Sox, Mariano Rivera gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Adam Dunn that sent the game into extra innings.
After Rivera worked a second inning, Adam Warren threw a scoreless inning and thanks to Robinson Cano’s first homer in almost a month, took the U.S. Cellular Field mound with a one-run cushion, the same as Rivera, in the 12th.
With two outs, the bases empty and a 1-2 count on Tyler Flowers, the ninth-place hitter, Warren failed to field a chopper back to him. Alexei Ramirez followed with a single that put runners at the corners for Alejandro De Aza. And his triple scored the runners and give the White Sox a 6-5 victory in a dozen innings before 25,707, sending the 57-56 Yankees home having been swept by a team that was on a 10-game losing streak when the Bombers pulled into town Monday.
Rivera retired Alex Rios and Konerko to open the ninth before Gordon Beckham (2-for-4, HR, two RBIs) smacked a 2-1 pitch to right-center for a double. Rivera jumped ahead of Dunn, 0-2, and gave up a ground single to left.
“Beckham, I left the ball over the plate and he was able to hit the ball for a double. Dunn, he had a good at-bat even though he had two strikes. He threw the [bat] at the [ball] and found a hole. It’s tough,’’ said Rivera, who flushed his third save in 38 chances and pitched two full innings for the first time since June 16, 2011. “I think we played a tremendous game [that put us in a position] to win. We just gave it right back. CC [Sabathai] pitched tremendous.
“This one feels worse. We came out today and played hard. We had a chance. We had two chances. And we couldn’t hold either. This was bad. We cannot do that. It’s unacceptable. This one is tough to go back home without a victory.’’
It was the second time in Rivera’s storied career he gave up a game-tying or game-winning hit with two outs and an 0-2 count in the ninth inning or later. The first time was to Marco Scutaro in 2007.
Coupled with the Red Sox winning, the Yankees dropped to a season-high 11 ½ games back of the AL East leaders and are seven behind in the wild-card race. They also have the sizzling Tigers coming to Yankee Stadium for three games this weekend when Alex Rodriguez (1-for-5 and a walk) makes his 2013 debut in The Bronx.
Lost in the late-game dramatics, was Sabathia’s best outing in a while. He allowed three runs and five hits in 7 ¹/₃ innings.
“I thought it was a lot better today,” said Sabathia, who hasn’t won since July 3. “The action on the pitches was pretty good. I’m encouraged. Hopefully I can keep building off of this. Hopefully I can keep building. Tough situation, but hopefully this will help me out.’’
As for watching two leads slip away, Sabathia shrugged.
“It’s baseball. You never know what’s going to happen. He’s been as close to automatic as you can be,’’ Sabathia said of Rivera. “So it happens. You just move on, pick up and move onto the next one.
“It’s frustrating. Getting swept here, it’s tough. We’ve had ups and downs all year. We’ve been able to bounce back. Hopefully we come out [tomorrow] and play well.’’
george.king@nypost.com