Rangers Win To Start Series With Yankees
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NEW YORK — With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, most of the fans at Yankee Stadium were anticipating a big hit from Derek Jeter. Up in the family section two levels off the field, there was a small contingent anticipating a big pitch from Miles Mikolas and in the visiting dugout a manager was hoping for a double play.
Mikolas highlighted a career-best 7 1/3-inning performance by getting Jeter to bounce into a double play, and the Texas Rangers opened a four-game series with a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees.
“We needed a double play,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “I don’t care who’s up there. Babe could have been up there. I wanted a double play.”
Mikolas (1-2) lowered his ERA from 10.05 to 7.59 by allowing two runs and four hits, giving the Rangers some distance after their starting pitchers allowed eight runs in 15 innings while losing two of three at Toronto over the weekend. He struck out three, walked two and threw 68 of 105 pitches for his first career win as a starting pitcher.
Texas (40-59) won for the second time in 12 games and improved to 5-24 in their past 29 games.
It seemed possible that on “Derek Jeter figurine night” that the majority of the
45,278 fans might get another big moment from the Yankee captain after Mikolas allowed one-out singles to catcher Francisco Cervelli and third baseman Zealous Wheeler before walking left fielder Brett Gardner on an eight-pitch at-bat.
Two pitches later, Mikolas threw a 1-0 sinker that Jeter grounded to second baseman Rougned Odor, who began a 6-4-3 double play. Had he not retired Jeter, left-handed reliever Ryan Feierabend would have entered to face center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, whose eighth home run gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
“I feel like that was kind of the turning point in the game,” Mikolas said. “We turned a great double play. No matter what the situation, you’re always one good pitch away, I was able to throw a nice fastball in, get a ground ball and that was all she wrote.”
“That was the biggest play of the game, really,” Washington said. “They had a chance to open that game up. He hung in there and made a pitch. That’s what you have to do.”
Immediately after his mother, fiancee, sister, step-father and other friends and family from Florida enjoyed the double play, the Rangers scored three times with two outs against New York starter Shane Greene (2-1) and left-handed reliever Matt Thornton.
In the top of the sixth, designated hitter Jake Smolinski got a single, and left fielder Jim Adduci walked. Smolinski, who left the game in the ninth with a bruised left foot, scored on catcher Geovany Soto’s base hit to left field that chased Greene. Odor followed with an RBI single to left off Thornton, and Soto, who injured his groin, scored on a single by slumping right fielder Shin-Soo Choo.
After getting the lead, Mikolas retired the Yankees on seven fastballs, getting ground outs from Ellsbury, designated hitter Carlos Beltran and first baseman Kelly Johnson.
“I went out and attacked them,” Mikolas said. “Right after an inning like that, you definitely want to come out aggressive, go right after the hitters and got a few ground balls. It was a big inning for keeping my pitch count low.”
“He did a great job,” Choo said.
Neal Cotts recorded the final two outs of the eighth, and closer Joakim Soria pitched a scoreless ninth for his 17th save in 18 opportunities despite hitting pinch hitter Brian McCann with a pitch, putting two on with two outs.
The Yankees were charged with five errors for the first time in a nine-inning game since Aug. 20, 1998, at Minnesota. It was their first game with five errors since a 13-inning loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim July 7, 2007, at Yankee Stadium.
“It was an ugly game on our part,” New York manager Joe Girardi said. “Our defense was bad and we didn’t swing the bats particularly well.”
The Yankees had a three-game winning streak stopped as they dropped to 21-24 at home. Before Ellsbury’s home run, their other run came on a sacrifice fly in the first by Beltran.
