CHICAGO -- John Danks put a little extra heat on his fastball, Melky Cabrera's bat continued to sizzle and the Chicago White Sox got an impressive victory Saturday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

A day after losing 13-6 to the New York Yankees, the White Sox bounced back with an 8-2 victory to split the first two games of a three-game series in the Windy City and remain 3 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card spot in the American League.

"It says a lot about this ballclub," said Danks, who allowed just one run in 5 2/3 innings to earn the win. "We put (Friday) night behind us and understood that we had a game to win today. We've just got to keep winning ballgames. We've said that all along and that's still true."

Danks, who allowed seven earned runs in Boston during his previous start, walked four but allowed only three hits. The left-hander also topped out at 94 mph on his fastball, 2 mph higher than his average, and tied his season high with eight strikeouts.

He twice prevented the Yankees (58-45) from tying the score while down a run in the fourth and fifth innings.

"Yeah, early on he had a little extra to it," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "It was firm and he had a good changeup. For a while he had a rut there, where he had a couple walks leading off the inning to get himself in trouble. But he found a way to get out of it."

The White Sox (50-52) also got a solid effort from their bullpen, which allowed just one run by three relievers in 3 1/3 combined innings.

Cabrera, meanwhile, went 2-for-3 and hit a three-run homer that broke the game open in the fifth. First baseman Jose Abreu (1-for-3) and center fielder Adam Eaton (2-for-4) also contributed for Chicago and extended hitting streaks of 12 and 10 games, respectively.

Shortstop Alexei Ramirez went 2-for-4 with two RBIs on a solo homer in the second and run-scoring double in Chicago's two-run seventh.

New York (58-45) lost for the third time in the past four games after a stretch in which the Yankees won eight of 10 highlighted by a four-game winning streak.

Rookie right-hander Bryan Mitchell lasted four-plus innings, gave up four runs and took the loss in his first major league start.

"I fell behind a lot," Mitchell said. "It's tough to pitch like that. You're going to run into more trouble than not. (I've) just got to do better next time and get ahead.

Chicago took an early 2-0 lead with runs in the first and second off Mitchell. Eaton led off the first inning with a single and Abreu doubled him home for the first run. Ramirez made it 2-0 by hitting his homer in the second.

The Yankees responded with a run in the top of the third after a leadoff double by catcher John Ryan Murphy and sacrifice fly by shortstop Didi Gregorious that was nearly a home run were it not for a leaping catch at the wall by right fielder Avisail Garcia to preserve Chicago's lead.

New York put runners in scoring position with two outs in the fourth and fifth but failed to tie it before the White Sox extended their lead with four more runs in the fifth.

Eaton got the rally started with a leadoff single and scored on a single by third baseman Tyler Saladino, driving Mitchell from the game. Right-handed reliever Diego Moreno hit Abreu with a fastball to put two runners aboard for Cabrera, who launched his seventh homer of the season for a 6-1 lead.

"He left a changeup (up) to Melky," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Moreno, who threw three innings of relief and allowed four runs. "He did a good job too. He just threw 70 pitches just four days ago, so I thought he did a decent job for us. He saved our bullpen."

NOTES: The White Sox put OF J.B. Shuck on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, which he injured Friday. Chicago recalled RHP Scott Carroll from Triple-A Charlotte to take his roster spot. ... Chicago signed OF Dayan Viciedo, who broke into the major leagues with the White Sox, to a minor-league contract. ... Chicago manager Robin Ventura said INF/OF Leury Garcia and INF Tyler Saladino will be leaned on more without Shuck. ... Yankees manager Joe Girardi didn't play LF Carlos Beltran, who fouled a ball off his left foot Friday. ... The Yankees optioned RHP Nick Goody to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and recalled RHP Nick Rumbelow. ... Girardi said his starters against the Boston Red Sox next week will be RHP Masahiro Tanaka (Tuesday), rookie RHP Luis Severino (Wednesday) and LHP CC Sabathia (Thursday). ... Girardi thinks by Thursday that Sabathia will be fully recovered from a bout with dehydration that led to a hospital stay last week in Texas. ... RHP Ivan Nova, who left his last start with arm fatigue, will start Sunday against the White Sox.