Yankees 12, Rangers 11: Yanks cling on for extremely close one-run win

As it turns out, Brett Gardner is not the only hitter in the Yankees' lineup that knows how to drive in runs.

After falling behind by three runs in the 3rd, the Bombers exploded for a season-high seven runs in the 6th inning, adding more to that later in the game, as they would go on to beat the Texas Rangers, barely clinging on for 12-11 on Tuesday night in Arlington.

Following a two-homerun performance on Monday night -- both solo homeruns and the only runs scored by the Yankees in the game -- Gardner led off Tuesday night's matchup with a solo homerun to center field off of Rangers starter Nick Martinez, his 12th homerun of the season and third leadoff dinger this season.

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy was on the mound for the Yankees to start the game, and he was working well through the first 2 2/3 inning before the Rangers -- not surprisingly -- glued together a two-out rally that put them ahead.

Alex Rios and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back two-out singles ahead of Jim Adduci, who hit a single to center field that scored Rios to tie the game. A batter later, after McCarthy threw a wild pitch that moved both runners up 90 feet, JP Arencibia doubled to deep right field, bringing in both runners to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Two innings later, in the 5th, Arencibia, who had a monster night at the plate as the seems to love hitting against the Yankees, hit a solo homerun to right field off of McCarthy, making it a 4-1 game.

McCarthy, throwing 108 pitches, was able to make it through six innings, giving up the four runs on nine hits, while walking just one and striking out three. He picked up his third win with the Yankees, and has been quite a nice pickup by Brian Cashman.

The Yankees had runners on first and second base with one out in the 1st inning, but Martinez was very tough to score off of after that, going on a stretch of retiring 13 of 14 hitters before the Yankees' lineup finally woke up in the 6th.

Gardner, who has been on fire lately with four more hits in five at-bats in this game, opened the 6th with a double, then Jeter, who had two hits of his own, reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After Jacoby Ellsbury popped out to the third base side, Mark Teixeira walked to load the bases. Carlos Beltran made it a one-run game with a two-run single into right field, then McCann brought in the tying run on a sac-fly to center field.

After Martinez walked Chase Headley, Ron Washington went to his bullpen, but that didn't help much. Zoilo Almonte greeted the reliever, Shawn Tolleson, with an RBI single, then Brendan Ryan followed with a two-run double that made it a 7-4. Back to the top of the order, Gardner hit a fly ball into the right-center field gap that was dropped after the center fielder and right fielder collided into each other, as Gardy reached third base on the play.

The Yankees added two more runs in the 7th inning -- which, both top and bottom halves, seemed to last forever. After loading the bases with nobody out, Headley hit a one-out single into right that extended the lead to 9-4, then Almonte scored Teixeira on a fielder's choice for the Yankees' 10th run of the game.

Texas, though, climbed back into the game in the bottom half of the 7th inning when Adam Warren loaded the bases with just one out. Joe Girardi brought in Dellin Betances, who is usually lights out as you know. However, the first batter Betances had to face was Arencibia, who made it a two-run game with a grand slam to left field.

Teixeira, in the 8th, came through with the hit that would end up saving the night for the Yankees. Making his first start in over a week because of a lat strain, Teixeira hit a two-run homerun -- his 18th of the year -- to push the Yankees' lead to 12-8, putting them back up by four.

Chase Whitley gave up a run in the 8th on a Beltre groundout, the David Robertson entered in the 9th to close out the game with a three-run lead. Robertson struck out the first batter of the inning before putting the next two batters on. He walked the bases loaded a couple of batters later with two outs, then gave up a two-run single to Elvis Andrus that made it a one-run game. After walking Rios to, again, load the bases, be got Beltre to fly out on a fly ball to the warning track in left to end the game.

That was wayyyyyyyy too close.

The Yankees and Rangers will finish up this three-game series on Wednesday night at 8:05 p.m. ET, when the pitching matchup will be Hiroki Kuroda against Colby Lewis at.

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Game 106: Mark Teixeira returns to the lineup

The Yankees let a win slip out of their hands last night when they fell to the Texas Rangers, 4-2, in the opener of a three game series down in Arlington. If it wasn't for Brett Gardner and his two solo homeruns off of Yu Darvish, the Bombers might not have scored at all with their offense continuing to struggle.

New York has now dropped three straight games since getting off to a 7-1 start following the All-Star break. Again, while their pitching staff has been great lately -- Over the team's last 16 games since July 9, Yankees starters have posted a 2.83 ERA (95.1 IP, 30 ER, 22 BB, 77 K), having allowed more than two earned runs just five times -- the offense has been a no-show too often. A pitcher can be lights out, but it means nothing if he doesn't get any run support.

Tonight's lineup vs Texas: 

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
C Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
RF Zoilo Almonte
2B Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

Brandon McCarthy will be the man on the mound tonight for the Bombers, making his fourth start with the club. The right-hander is looking to continue the good run that he's been on since joining the Bombers, going 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in his first three starts.

McCarthy earned his second consecutive win on July 24 against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium, allowing only one earned run in six innings during a 4-2 Yankees victory.

In his career against the Rangers, McCarthy is 3-5 with a 4.41 ERA (65.1 IP, 32 ER) in 13 career appearances (11 starts).

Starting for the Rangers tonight is right-hander Nick Martinez, who came off the disabled list on July 22 and allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings against the Yankees.

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Yankees 2, Rangers 4: One bad inning hurts David Phelps and the Yanks

Entering an important week for the New York Yankees, playing six games against last place ball clubs with the trading deadline mixed in, the Bombers' road trip did not get off to a great start. After taking an early 2-0 lead against starter Yu Darvish, the Rangers came back to score four runs in the 5th, which was all they needed in a 4-2 win over the Yanks on Monday night in Arlington.

Let's get the positive note out of the way: with three hits tonight, Derek Jeter reached 3,420 career hits, which put him ahead of Carl Yastrzemski for 7th on the all-time hits list. So congrats to Jeter.

The Yankees collected 11 hits in the game, but only managed to score two runs, and they might not have done that if Brett Gardner wasn't in the lineup for them to face Darvish, who in case you haven't heard is owned by Gardner, who has four career hits against the Japanese ace -- all four homerun, including two on Monday.

Both solo homeruns, the first put the Yankees up 1-0  in the 3rd inning on a shot to right field. The second, which came in the 5th, was a blast to center field, putting the Bombers up 2-0, giving David Phelps a decent, but not great lead to work with.

Phelps was cruising along nicely through the first four inning, throwing just 55 pitches. Phelps had only given up three hits before reaching the 5th, where things got ugly.

Chris Gimenez opened the inning with a single before Phelps retired the next two hitters, making it seem like it would be another short inning. However, Gimenez had moved to second on a grounded, then scored on a Elvis Andrus double to put the Rangers on the board. Alex Rios, who the Yankees have looked at, singled a batter later to put runners on the corners, then Adrian Beltre doubled to score Andrus as the tying run. Phelps walked Jim Adduci to load the bases, then JP Arencibia drove in Beltran and Rios on a singles to put the Rangers up 4-2. All of that with two outs.

The nightmare inning for Phelps finally ended a batter later, and he followed up with scoreless 6th inning to finish off his night, in which he was charged with four runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out three on 96 pitches (66 strikes).

His counterpart, Darvish, was not overly phased by the two Gardner homeruns. He still managed to get through seven innings, giving up just the two runs on seven hits, with a walk and eight strikeouts.

After Phelps, Shawn Kelley came out of the bullpen for Joe Girardi, tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits. And then Matt Thornton was called upon to get the final out of the 8th, which he did by striking out Rougned Odor.

Some game notes: Brian McCann was at first base yet again with Mark Teixeira out, and all I can say is that the Yankees are far better defensively with Teixeira at first ..... speaking of Teixeira, he came off of the bench to pinch-hit in the 8th inning for Brian Roberts and singled to left field in the at-bat; I'd have to guess that Tex will be in the lineup on Tuesday ..... Gardner and Jeter at the top of the lineup tonight: 6-for-9 with three extra-base hits and no strikeouts, while the rest of the lineup:  5-for-28 with no extra-base hits and eight strikeouts.

The Yankees and Rangers continue this three game series on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET. Brandon McCarthy will be on the mound for the Bombers, while the Rangers will counter with right-hander Nick Martinez.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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Game 105: Big week ahead for the Yankees

The Yankees have a big week coming up with a pair of series against last place ball clubs, with the July 31 trading deadline in the middle of that on Thursday, and it beings tonight with the first of three games against the Texas Rangers down in Arlington.

The Rangers, as you know, were just in the Bronx last week, where they lost three of their four games against the Yankees. Texas followed that up by losing two of three to the Oakland Athletics over the weekend, and come into tonight's game having last seven of ten since the All-Stare break.

New York, meanwhile, won seven of their first eight games following the break before dropping the final two games to the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. After a good series against Cincinnati, the Yankees' offense suddenly stopped hitting against both the Rangers and Blue Jays. Maybe that'll change this week, because it really needs to.

Short preview tonight, so I'm just going to let you know that David Phelps and Yu Darvish are the starting pitchers tonight. You know the story with them. Those two faced off last week in New York, the Yankees won that game, 2-1, in just five innings thanks to Mother Nature.

Tonight's lineup vs Texas: 

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Brian McCann 1B
Carlos Beltran DH
Chase Headley 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Brian Roberts 2B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Zoilo Almonte LF

* The Yankees recalled Almonte from Triple-A Scranton before tonight's game, while designating LHP Jeff Francis for assignment.

* The Yankees are hoping that Mark Teixeira will play tomorrow night.

“If I wake up tomorrow and have back spasms (then it won’t happen),” Teixeira said. “But I don’t expect that to happen. I feel very good right now. I expect to have a very good BP today and be in there tomorrow. … The back spasms are gone, which I’ve been dealing with for a long time, so that’s really good. Good to see that the treatments worked, and the time off helped, so hopefully they won’t come back.”

* Just an off-day for Jacoby Ellsbury tonight because Joe Girardi doesn't want to overwork him. It's likely that Gardner will also get a day off this week.

“I’ve got to check with Gardy and see how he’s doing tomorrow,” Girardi said. “This long stretch — the heat, the day games, the 14-inning game — I don’t want one of these guys to get hurt. They’re really important to our lineup. So maybe Gardy will get a day off. Maybe he won’t, but maybe he will.”

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Yankees 4, Rangers 2: Brandon McCarthy sharp again in Yanks' series finale win

Having taken two of the first three games against the Texas Rangers this week, the Yankees sent right-hander Brandon McCarthy to the mound against Colby Lewis in the finale of a four-game set at Yankee Stadium. Making just his third start in pinstripes, McCarthy looked sharp again, giving up just one run over six innings, as the Yankees beat the Rangers, 4-2, on Thursday afternoon.

Neither team put a runner on base until the 3rd inning, when Texas opened the scoring with their only run against McCarthy. Rounged Odor and Shin-Soo Choo hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with two outs. Then a batter later, Elvis Andrus singled home Odor to put the Rangers up 1-0.

As I mentioned above, the Rangers didn't get another run off of McCarthy, who looked sharp yet again after giving up one run and striking out nine in his last start, against the Reds on Saturday. He only gave up four hits, walked two and struck out five on 109 pitches.

His pitch count ran a little high earlier than you would have liked, but his cutter, which he recently started throwing again, and his sinker were working well for him, helping him work through Rangers' lineup. The Yankees, so far, have turned Vidal Nuno into a pretty good replacement in the rotation.

A couple days after the walk-off single in his Yankee debut, Chase Headley tied up the game in 4th inning with a long single off of the right field wall, scoring Brett Gardner, who double to open the inning, tying the game at 1-1.

The Yankees tacked on two more runs an inning later, putting them up 2-1. Ichiro Suzuki led off the bottom of the 4th with a walk off of Lewis, then Francisco Cervelli doubled into the left field corner, scoring Ichiro all the way from first base for the go-ahead run. Brendan Ryan, a batter later, sacrificed Cervelli over to third base, then after Jacoby Ellsbury worked a walk, Gardner drove in Cervy with a sac-fly to deep left field.

Adam Warren took over on the mound in the 7th inning and was greeted by JP Arencibia, who blasted a solo homerun into the right field seats -- 4th homerun of the year -- to pull the Rangers within a run.

Warren retired the next two hitters before Matt Thornton was brought on the get the final out of the inning. Dellin Betances worked a scoreless nine-pitch 8th inning, with a strikeout.

The Yankees added on an insurance in the 8th when Carlos Beltran singled to start the inning, then Brian McCann doubled him home a batter later to push the Yankees' lead to 4-2.

David Robertson came on the shut the door in the 9th inning. He issued a one-out walk to Jim Adduci, but struck out the next two batters to end the game, sealing his 25th save of the season the Yankees' sixth win since the All-Star break, pushing their recording to 6-1 in the second half.

The Yankees will now welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town for a three-game series that starts Friday night with Hiroki Kuroda facing off with Mark Buehrle at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 101: Going for the series win

The Yankees got some help from Mother Nature last night, holding off just long enough for the Yankees to take a 2-1 lead against Yu Darvish and the Rangers, then get through 4 1/2 innings to make the game official, which was called after nearly two hours of a rain delay, giving the Yankees a win in the third game of this four game set, concluding today in the Bronx.

The Yankees lost a game, the Sunday night match against the Baltimore Orioles, right before the All-Star break because rain cut that one short, so it's only fitting that they get a win in the same fashion.

Brett Gardner hit the game-winning homerun off of Darvish last night, putting the Yankees up before the rain. It was Gardner's 10th homerun of the season, which is tied with Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran for second most on the team.

Gardner, who will be paid $5.6 million this season under his previously existing contract, has been one of the Yankees' best offensive (maybe the best?) players this season, batting .279 with 41 RBIs and a 3.1 WAR.

Today's lineup against Texas:

CF Jacoby Ellsbury
LF Brett Gardner
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
C Francisco Cervelli
SS Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

Brandon McCarthy will take the mound for the Yankees today, as the Bombers look to capture the series win and improve their record to 6-1 in the second half of the season.

McCarthy will be making just his third start for the Yankees since being acquired before the All-Star break, and his second start at Yankee Stadium -- fifth of his career here in the Bronx. McCarthy's last outing, against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, was a good one, in which he tossed six innings of one-run ball while striking out nine.

McCarthy said afterwards that he started throwing his cutter again, which he was told not to throw while with the Diamondbacks, and it worked out really well for him on Saturday.

The Rangers will counter with right-hander Colby Lewis, who has never pitched in the new Yankee Stadium before. Lewis faced the Toronto Blue Jays in his last start, giving up two runs on eight hits in five innings.

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Yankees 2, Rangers 1 (F/5): Yankees beat Darvish in rain-shortened game

The Yankees entered Wednesday night's game at Yankee Stadium struggling mightily at the plate to the tune of just four runs in 23 innings over the past two games against the Rangers.

With Yu Darvish on the mound, one might think the Yankees were in real trouble. Of course, conventional wisdom doesn't apply to the 2014 Yankees.  New York defeated Darvish and the Rangers, 2-1, in a rain-shortened 4 1/2 innings Wednesday night.

The Yankees sent David Phelps to the mound and he was outstanding once again, as he picked up his fifth win of the season and lowered his ERA to 3.77. Phelps allowed just one run in five innings, while striking out three on 72 pitches -- 44 strikes. Darvish recorded one out in the fifth inning before the torrential rainfall began.

The Rangers ace surrendered four hits, two runs and five strikeouts on 72 pitches -- 48 strikes. Phelps and Darvish both put up two scoreless innings to start the game, as both offenses’ looked rusty after Tuesday night's 14-inning marathon.

 Leonys Martin and Chris Gimenez opened the third inning with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners, Rougned Odor followed by grounding into a double play to score Martin to give Texas a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Francisco Cervelli led off with double down the left field line for the Yankees first hit of the night. Brendan Ryan grounded out to second to move Cervelli to third and the Yankee catcher was able to tie the game on a Darvish balk.

The next batter, Brett Gardner homered off Darvish to right field to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. The solo blast was Gardner's career-high 10th home run of the season, which tied the Yankee outfielder for second on the team in home runs with Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann.

The Yankees will look to finish off a series win in Thursday's afternoon start at 1:05 p.m. Brandon McCarthy will be on the mound for New York, while Colby Lewis will take the hill for Texas.

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Yankees 2, Rangers 1 (F/14): Chase Whitley starts the game, Chase Headley ends the game

I never thought baseball could be this bad.

As the clock struck midnight, Chase Headley, who was not even at the stadium for the first pitch of the game, smacked a walk-off single into left-center field to send the Yankees and their fans home with a 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers nearly five after later in 14 innings.

Jeff Francis made his long-awaited Yankees debut after being acquired by the team about two weeks ago, and took home the win after pitching a scoreless 14th inning.

It was pretty amazing that this game lasted as long as it did, because the Rangers are terrible at baseball and in no way deserved to win this game. With that said, the Yankees hadn't scored a run in 18 innings before tying the game on an RBI single in the 13th, so it's not like they should have won either. But in the end, the team with the most runs wins, and it was the Yankees in this one.

Another Chase, Chase Whitley, started for the Bombers and delivered a decent quality start. He pitched six shutout innings, giving up seven hits while striking out six and walking none. The Rangers never actually put a serious scoring threat together against Whitley; Robinson Chirinos doubled in the 5th, and that was really as close as they got.

Whitley opened the 7th inning on the mound, but Adrian Beltre singled off of him, and that's where Joe Girardi went to the bullpen. He brought in Matt Thornton for a second straight night to face Leonys Martin, who was out after a two-strike bunt foul. Adam Warren then came in, also for the second straight night, and recorded the final two out of the inning.

Dellin Betances worked a scoreless 8th, striking out a pair of hitters. Then David Robertson retired all six batters he faced in the 9th and 10th innings to keep the game scoreless.

The Yankees had a great chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning after Derek Jeter hit a one-out double then the Rangers intentionally walked Jacoby Ellsbury to get to Carlos Beltran, who, naturally, hit into a double play to send the game to extra innings. The Yankees, again, had a pair of runners on in the 11th after Brett Gardner and Jeter walked ahead of Ellsbury with two outs, and he grounded out to end the frame.

The Yankees' best wasted chance of the game came in the 12th, when Beltran opened with a single then moved to second on a wild pitch. Brian McCann "singled on a shallow fly-ball to left field" when it was actually another dropped fly ball on a McCann popup. Ichiro Suzuki sacrificed both runners over, then the Rangers walked Brian Roberts to face Francisco Cervelli with one out and the bases loaded. Cervy ripped a ball to third base, as Beltre snagged it for the out, then Headley grounded out to end the inning.

Texas broke the scoreless tie in the 13th inning when JP Arencibia kicked off the inning with a solo homerun off of David Huff, who pitched two innings. It pretty much seemed like the game was over at that point.

The Yankees, though, tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. Gardner opened with a double, Jeter moved him to third with a bunt, then Ellsbury singled home Ellsbury to make it a 1-1 game. The Yanks were then forced to bring in Francis, the last pitcher in their bullpen. So you know this game had to end quickly, or else Ichiro was going to pitch.

Roberts hit a one-out ground-rule double in the bottom of the 14th, followed by a single from Cervelli, setting up runners on the corners for Headley, who ended the game with his first hit has a Yankee.

The Yankees and Rangers will continue this four-game series on Wednesday night with David Phelps facing Yu Darvish at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 99: Chase Headley joins the Yankees

It had a little bit of everything -- some bad pitching, some poor defense, and a lack of production from the expensive lineup.

Coming into the game having just swept the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend in a convincing fashion, the Yankees' loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday night featured the real Yankees squad that we've been watching this season, and not the one that played really well against the Reds -- one not quite built for the playoffs.

The Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the 4th, but couldn't hold on when Shane Greene and Matt Thronton gave up three runs in the 6th to fall behind 4-2. And in the end, fives hits from the Yanks' lineup were not enough to overcome five errors -- three by Greene.

Just when you thought that the Yankees had found new life over the weekend, they went back to playing like the team they really are. But maybe Chase Headley will help change things.

Tonight's lineup against Texas:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
RF Kelly Johnson
2B Brian Roberts
C Francisco Cervelli
3B Zelous Wheeler

* Headley is listed on the Yankees' roster, but won't be in New York in time for the game. Brian Cashman told reporters that he's expected to be in around 7:30 p.m., and could pinch-hit if needed.

Pitching matchup preview:

Chase Whitley will be on the mound for the Yankees tonight, and that's not really a good thing if you're the Rangers. Texas is just 2-7 this season when facing a rookie starter, and Whitley will become the 9th rookie to face them. The other eight rookies went a combined 5-1 with a 3.88 ERA in nine starts.

In his last start, against the Baltimore Orioles on the Sunday before the All-Star break, Whitley only lasted 3.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits.

Getting the ball for the Rangers is right-hander Nick Martinez, who is making his first start since coming off of the DL after fighting discomfort in his left side. This'll be his first start since July 1, when gave up eight runs (six earned) on seven hits in five innings against the Orioles.

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Yankees 2, Rangers 4: Five hits not enough to overcome five errors

Just another one of those games where the Yankees make a starter that you have never heard of coming into the game look like an All-Star. This time it was Miles Mikolas, who was making just his fourth start of the season. The right hander had no problem tossing 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball, as the Texas Rangers beat the Yankees, 4-2, in the opener of a four game series this week at Yankee Stadium.

It wasn't just the offense, as the Yankees committed five errors in a game for the first time since July 7, 2007, three of which were by starter Shane Greene, who suffered his first loss since joining the Yankees' rotation. The five errors were also the same amount of hits that the Yankees managed to collect.

The Yankees jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning. Derek Jeter worked a one-out walk against Mikolas, moved to second base on a balk, then reached third base on an infield single by the speedy Jacoby Ellsbury. Carlos Beltran followed up Ellsbury with a sac-fly to center, scoring Jeter for the game's first run.

Texas evened the score in the 3rd inning on a fielder's choice off the bat of Adrian Beltre. Shin-Soo Choo hit a out-out double to right field off of Greene, then moved to third base on an infield single by Elvus Andrus. A batter later, Beltre hit a ball to Derek Jeter, who tossed ball over to second to start the double play, but the throw was dropped by Brian Roberts at the bag; everybody was safe and the run scored.

An inning later, in the 4th, Ellsbury lead off the inning by hitting his 8th homerun of the season, a solo shot to right field to put the Yankees back up by a score of 2-1 -- just his 4th at Yankee Stadium this year.

Greene was chased from the game during the Rangers' three-run 6th inning, in which Greene retired the first two hitters before giving up a single to Jake Smolinski, walking Jim Adduci, and giving up an game-tying single to Geovany Soto, who drove in Smolinski to tie game.

That was the end of Greene's night. He made a pair of errors in the 2nd inning, but somehow managed to get out unharmed. His first two big league starts were very good, this one wasn't terrible, but it obviously could have been better. He only gave up five hits and four runs, while walking just one batter and striking out five.

Matt Thornton took over on the mound with a pair of left-handed hitters coming up to face him. To no surprise, his outing was not a success. Both hitters, Rounged Odor and Choo, smacked back-to-back RBI singles to put the Rangers up 4-2, knocking Thornton out of the game. Adam Warren came on to record the final out of the 6th, then worked a scoreless 7th inning.

David Huff pitched the final two innings for the Yankees, giving up a pair of hits with a walk. He also struck out three, helping keep the Yankees in the game for a chance to tie or take the lead in the final innings.

Mikolas was a rock on the mound for the Rangers, working to two outs in the 8th inning. He only gave up two runs on four hits, with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. He came into the game with an ERA over 10, and the Yankees did what they do best in making him look really good.

The Yankees tired to make things interesting in the bottom of the 9th. Kelly Johnson ripped a one-out single into right-center field, then after Roberts wasted no time popping out to Beltre on the first pitch he saw against Joakim Soria, Brian McCann, who pinch-hit for Ichiro Suzuki, was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on with two outs. Yangervis Solarte hit for Francisco Cervelli, but flew out to left field to end the game.

The Yankees and Rangers will continue this four game series on Tuesday night when Chase Whitley and Nick Martinez take the mound for their teams. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm ET.

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Game 98: Welcoming the Rangers to town

Three games, three wins in the books for the Yankees to open up the second half of the season. After all they have been through this season, the Yanks are amazingly just three games back of the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles, who just lost two of their three games in Oakland over the weekend.

The second half of the Yankees' season could not have gotten off to a much better start, with all three starters so far having delivered quality starts of at least six innings. And even better, Jacoby Ellsbury (6-for-12), Carlos Beltran (4-for-11) and Brian McCann (4-for-13) all had a good weekend against Cincinnati, sparking hope that is life after all in the lineup that produced very little during the first half.

The Yankees will now hope to continue this hot start to the second half against the Texas Rangers, who dropped two of three to the Blue Jays in Toronto over the weekend, and lost eight straight and 22 of 25 heading into the All-Star break.

Tonight's lineup against Texas:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Kelly Johnson
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
C Francisco Cervelli
3B Zelous Wheeler

* Mark Teixeira will be out of the lineup for the next 3-4 days with a mild lower lat strain, Joe Girardi told reporters. As of now, Teixeira will not be headed to the disabled list. He went 0-for-12 over the weekend against the Reds.

Pitching matchup preview:

Shane Greene will look to continue his perfect run in the Yankees' rotation tonight when he takes the mound against an injury-riddled Rangers lineup. Greene, who has combined to allow just two runs over 13 1/3 innings while carrying a no-hitter through 4 2/3 innings in each of his first two starts, enters the game 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA.

In his last start, against the Baltimore Orioles on the Saturday before the All-Star break, Greene tossed 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball, while striking out nine.

Greene and the Yankees will be going up against Rangers right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-2, 10.05 ERA), who will make his fourth start of the season on Monday night. Mikolas gave up five runs (four earned) in 5 2/3 innings against the Angels.

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The Yanks' Playoff Hope Is Still Alive, But Not By Much

In sports, nothing compares to the last week of baseball. As some of the divisions have already been claimed, the divisions still wide open are always a joy to watch, as the pressure of winning in the crunch time of the season grows on all contending teams.

For the Yankees,crunch time started a long time ago, and as they head into the final week of the season with six games left against the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros, they're four games back of the Cleveland Indians in the Wild Card race.

Every last game for the Yankees can be considered a must-win game, because if they fail to win even one of the remaining six, they can almost certainly say goodbye to their playoff hopes.

Starting tomorrow in the Bronx, the Yankees open up their most important series of the season -- and their best chance at clinching a Wild Card berth -- with a three-game against the Rays, who currently lead the Wild Card.

Enter play four games behind, the Yankees can't afford to lose any of the three games, as a loss on Tuesday could potentially set them five games back with five left to play -- not exactly good odds.

More so, the Yankees would also need to get some help from the teams currently ahead of them in the Wild Card race, but the strength of schedule for the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Indians are not in the Yankees' favor.

The Indians have two games home games left against the awful Chicago White Sox on Tuesday and Wednesday, then finish their season with four games against the Minnesota Twins. The Royals are in Seattle for three games against the no-so-competitive Mariners starting on tonight, then go to the White Sox for more more easy games to finish the season.

Then you have the Rangers, who had been playing very poorly lately, but still find them selves just 1.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot, with three games against the Astros and four games at the Angels -- two very easy opponents.

At this point, on a scale of 1-10, the Yankees chances of making the playoffs are probably at a two, but if you think about it, a two if still better than a zero. They still have life, but not much left. If they plan in making the playoffs, it's going to take a miracle of a six-game winning streak, along with some, I mean a lot, of help from the other teams involved.

The season ends Sunday in Houston, but the Yankees' playoffs hopes could end a few day before that if they don't start winning now.

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The Yankees Aren't Out Of This Playoff Race Just Yet

As they say, it's not over until it's over. Many of you might be able to argue that this season might actually already by over for the New York Yankees, but it you look at the facts in front of you, you might be able to ask, is it really over?

Well, the Yankees left Boston this weekend after and atrocious showing against the Red Sox, losing all three-games in the series, and being outscored by the Sox 22-7.

Yet, somehow, the Yankees "only" managed to lose one game to the Tampa Bay Rays, whom the Yankees now trail by three-games in the Wild Card. Even better, the Rays are actually tied with the Texas Rangers for the top spot in the Wild Card race, meaning the Yanks are just three games back of both of those teams.

Tonight in Tampa, the Rays and Rangers begin a critical four-game series at the Trop, with the first Wild Card spot, and possibly a playoff berth on the line.

With as well as the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians are playing right now, you can almost write one of those teams into the playoffs if either the Rays or Rangers have their way this week.

Both Tampa and Texas has been playing sloppy baseball of late, but the only team playing worse than the Yankees did in Boston this past weekend is the Rangers, losers of six straight, and nine of their last 10 games.

Just as the Rangers did last season when they let the Oakland Athletics come all the way back to win the AL West last season, Texas is currently running themselves out of the playoff race again this season.

If the Yankees were to really make a run at this Wild Card, this would be their best chance to do so, as the Bombers are in Toronto for three-games starting on Tuesday, to face a Blue Jays team that the Yanks have owned this season.

Of their last 12 remaining games, the Yankees play nine of them against current last place teams -- three against Toronto, three against the San Francisco Giants, and three against the worst team in baseball, the Houston Astros to finish the regular season, with the other the three against the Rays next week in the Bronx.

"We've got 12 games to go, there’s no time to be concerned, we've got to go," Said Alex Rodriguez after Sunday's 9-2 loss. “You got to play as hard as you can and you never know, crazier things have happened, we just have to worry about getting back on a good winning streak on Tuesday.

"I know we are right in the mix, nothing that a two- or three-game winning streak can’t fix," A-Rod said. “If we go out and win four of the next five starting on Tuesday I think we are right back into this thing. If you take Boston away over the last two to three weeks, we've played really good baseball. Boston has done a number on us, they basically whipped our ass."

Right now, the Yanks would need to leapfrog over the Baltimore Orioles and Indians in order to grab a Wild Card spot. Cleveland's last 13 games are against Kansas City, Houston, the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. They have the easiest schedule of all the contending teams.

The Orioles finish up with a tough 13 game fix against the Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays and one more series against the Red Sox to end the season.

I'm not saying that it will be done, but it certainly can be done. The Yankees obviously have a ton of issues to sort through if they actually plan on making the playoffs -- with everything from injuries to terrible pitching, but I'll get into that later.

All I'm saying is that you shouldn't write off the New York Yankees just yet, because as we've seen in the past, anything can happen in these last few weeks.

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Kuroda Dominates As The Yanks Beat The Rangers

ARLINGTON -- Hiroki Kuroda just doesn't seem to know what bad pitching is. Kuroda continued to cement his case to be the Yankees ace by tossing seven shutout inning against the Rangers, giving the Yankees more than enough to take down Texas 2-0 in the series finale.

Even better, the Yankees were able to string together some hits with their bats, putting runs on the board to ensure that Kuroda would walk out of Arlington with a win.

"He's pitching real good for us," Yankees catcher Austin Romine said, who collected a career-high three hits. "Every time he goes out there, we know it's going to be a real close game. It's Hiro. It's what he's doing. He goes out there and throws. I don't know how to explain it any other way."

Kuroda had it going for him all afternoon long. He was able to work himself out of jams to keep runs off the board and the Yankees in the lead. He finished after seven innings, permitting just six hits, all singles, a walk and three strikeouts on 100 pitches.

"That guy has been solid for us the whole year," Mariano Rivera said of Kuroda. "To come out and pitch the way he pitched today, it was brilliant. In this weather? He was outstanding for us. It means a lot. We needed to win this game. Period."

But Kuroda disagreed with everyone, saying that he didn't even pitch well, regardless of what his stat line might say about his afternoon.

"I don't think I had any particular pitch that was working well," Kuroda said. "From the get-go, I didn't have a good outing, but I was able to get big outs and put up a decent outing."

Two runs may not be a lot, but the Yankees collected some big hits when they need one, posting five doubles on the day, coming just a couple days after breaking a streak of 20 straight singles.

It was back to back doubles that put the Yankees on the board to open the top of the 6th inning off Rangers' starter Derek Holland.

Holland did his best to keep up with Kuroda, but in the end, the two earned runs he gave up just wasn't enough for the Rangers to overcome and help him out. Holland exited after 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits.

"It was a very good pitching duel going out there," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Both pitchers did their job on each side. They just happened to take advantage of the opportunities to put runs on the board, and we didn't."

The second earned run charged to Holland came after he had already left the game in the 8th, with runners on 1st and 3rd, Eduardo Nunez beat out a double play ball to let Robinson Cano scored from third, giving the Yankees a helpful insurance run.

After Kuroda left, David Robertson made easy work in the 8th inning, setting down the Rangers 1-2-3, giving way for Rivera close out the 9th, picking up his 33rd save of the season and closing out a much needed win for the Yankees in their final game in Texas.

"Whatever happens with the offense, all I want to do is make sure that I contribute to a win," Kuroda said. "With the two-run lead today, I think I was able to get big outs and get away with it."

Now the Yankees will head back home to open up a three-game series against the hot-hot Rays at Yankee Stadium. CC Sabathia will look to redeem himself after a rough outing against the Red Sox on Sunday.

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Yanks Tab Kuroda To Avoid A Series Loss

ARLINGTON -- The Yankees have run into rough times, losing six of their past eight games, losing two of the first three games in their series against the Texas Rangers, scoring just a lone run combined in both losses. Luckily enough, whatever the Yankees do, the Red Sox follow suit, so the Yanks haven't fallen farther than seven games back in the standings this week.

But now they  must try to salvage one final game in Texas before heading back home to face the red hot Tampa Bay Rays, starting Friday in the Bronx.

Today's Lineup, 2:05 EST @ Rangers Ballpark:

Ichiro RF
Lillibridge 3B
Cano DH
Wells LF
Nunez SS
Adams 2B
Overbay 1B
Mesa CF
Romine C

Kuroda P

Pitching Preview:

As you may have read over the past few days, I've started to call Hiroki Kuroda the new ace of the Yankees. Today, he'll get a chance to prove his case when he faces a Rangers club that he's already beaten once this year.

Kuroda took the mound against the Rangers June 25th at Yankee Stadium, when he gave up three runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings, coming home with the win.

Kuroda and his 2.60 ERA last took the mound last Saturday against the Boston Red Sox, in which Kuroda held Boston to two runs over seven plus innings.

"[Kuroda] had everything," Girardi said after that game. "His stuff was really crisp. He kept his pitch count down in the early innings. His stuff was really sharp."

Derek Holland will be tasked with trying to follow up Matt Garza's solid Ranger debut Wednesday night, when he threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, yielding only five hits to the weak Bombers lineup.

Holland will also be trying to recreate the stellar outing he had against the Yankees on June 27th at Yankee Stadium. Holland tossed a two-hit shutout, mowing down the Yanks' bats with ease.

"When you attack the strike zone, you can do that," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after Holland's shutout. "That's the bottom line, and I thought that's what he did."

In his career, Holland's 7.21 ERA against the Yankees is his second-highest mark against any American League team, and the lefty is 0-2 with a 10.29 ERA against the Bombers at Rangers Ballpark.

"I'm going to do the same thing I've always done, and that's go after them," Holland said. "You can't change, no matter how good you did or bad you did before. I just want to go back out there and keep the momentum going."

Yankee Notes:

* Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Derek Jeter is scheduled to run the bases today, signifying that we could see Jeter back in action when he becomes eligible to play Saturday if all goes well.

* An unnamed Yankee player told the New York Daily News that Alex Rodriguez causes a circus around the Yankees' clubhouse.

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Yanks' Don't Give Much To Back Pettitte, Lose 3-1

ARLINGTON -- With all the attention that Alex Rodriguez brought to the Yankees on Wednesday, it kinda made you forget that there was still a game to be played.

Coming off a 9th inning come from behind win on Tuesday, the Yankees looked to carry over the momentum with Andy Pettitte on the mound.

But to go along with the common theme, Pettitte pitched well, much better than he's been pitching lately, holding the Rangers to two runs in six plus innings, but took home the loss after the Yankees failed to give him anything in support.

"You don't worry about it," Pettitte said. "I'm telling you, I ain't taking the mound worrying about whether we're going to score runs or not. Our guys are grinding, and that's all you can do. Our team, this is what we have. We're going out there and battling and competing, and I love it."

Pettitte surrendered an early run to the Rangers, giving up an RBI single to AJ Pierzynski, who came up big later in the game, scoring Ian Kinsler, who single to open the bottom of the first inning.

Texas was able to get a hold of some balls, knocking hits around the yard off Pettitte, but weren't able to get anything serious going against the 41-year-old left-hander.

The only run of support Pettitte would receive on the night came in the 6th inning when Robinson Cano singled a soft liner to center, scoring Brett Gardner, who motored all the way around to third on a throwing error by Rangers' starter Matt Garza when he threw a ball up the right field line on batted ball back at him.

But for the second straight night, the Rangers used the power of the long ball to take the lead, when Pierzynski took a hold of Pettitte pitch to lift it over the right field wall. Daniel Murphy tacked on another run in the 8th, going yard off Shawn Kelley to extend the lead to 3-1.

"Pierzynski killed him -- I mean, he had both of the RBIs against him," Girardi said. "Andy usually handles lefties very well, but he left a slider ... it was down, but he left it kind of middle in. He hit it out."

Pettitte was removed from the game after giving up a pair of base hits to open the 7th. He allowed just two runs on eight hits over six plus, walking one and striking out two.

With his second strikeout, Pettitte passed Sandy Koufax on baseball's all-time strikeouts list on Wednesday, tying former Yankees pitcher Kevin Brown for 39th place.

Pettitte's counterpart, Matt Garza, was making his his first start with the Rangers since they acquired him from the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Garza put himself into some early trouble, but settled in to yield only one unearned run on five hits, leaving to a standing ovation after 7 1/3 innings.

"He's got good stuff," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He's got a very good fastball and a good slider. We hit some balls; we hit them at people. We had an opportunity in the first inning and weren't able to score. He kind of got on a roll after that."

Neal Cotts worked his magic against the Yankees in the 8th and 9th, facing four straight Yankee hitters and setting down four straight Yankee hitters, then Joe Nathan topped off the final out of the game to give Garza the win in his Ranger debut.

"We just weren't able to get anything going tonight," Gardner said. "That's kind of been the story for the last little while. We need a couple of guys to get hot and a couple of other guys to follow suit. Hopefully, we'll get on a roll tomorrow."

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Pettitte Looking To Get On The Right Track

ARLINGTON -- Brett Gardner called the Yankees' 5-4 comeback win against the Texas Rangers Tuesday night the teams best win this season. In a way, he was right. Leading for the most of the game, the Rangers rattled off a four-run 6th inning to take the life out of the Yanks for the time being.

But then in the 9th, facing all-star closer Joe Nathan, the Yankees put together a comeback that would hopefully lift the team's spirits for the coming weeks.

Tonight's Lineup, 8:05 EST @ Arlington Ballpark:

Gardner CF
Ichiro RF
Cano 2B
Overbay 1B
Wells DH
Nunez SS
Lillibridge 3B
Mesa LF
Stewart C

Pettitte P

Pitching Preview:

Andy Pettitte has been pitching like Andy Pettitte wants to be pitching. He's 2-4 with a 5.40 ERA, watching opponents hit .311 against him over his last seven starts and has allowed 26 runs over that span.

Pettitte's last took the mound on Friday against the Boston Red Sox, after giving up a homerun to Jacoby Ellsbury on the second pitch of the game and a two-run blast to Johnny Gomes in the third, Pettitte settled down to allowed four runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings.

He'll be facing newly acquired Matt Garza, who the Rangers traded for with the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Garza is an expert when it comes to pitching against the AL East, considering he pitched with the Tampa Bay Rays for years, before signing with the Cubs in 2012.

Although, Garza never had much success against the Yankees as the Bombers are 11-1 in 12 games against the right-handed pitcher, having hit 11 home runs and scored 38 runs in 66 1/3 innings against him.

"It's been a few years, but we've seen a lot of him, and he's a pitcher that's had success pretty much anywhere he's been," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He's pitched in the American League East, which is not the easiest place to pitch. He's pitched in pennant races. You would expect it to be a good acquisition for the Rangers."

Garza had been the top starting pitcher on the trade market, going 6-1 with a 3.17 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 11 starts this season.

"When he was in Tampa Bay, you saw how he competes," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He's a quality pitcher, and we're certainly looking for quality things out of him. The one thing I did tell him is, don't try to put us on his shoulders. Just be who he is; that'll be good enough for us."

Yankee Notes:

* The Alex Rodriguez saga continues, and this time, it has taken another wicked turn. A-Rod, without permission from the Yankees, went for a second opinion on his quad, and after his personal doctor, Dr. Michael Gross, said that he saw nothing wrong with the MRI the Yankees had gotten on A-Rod on Sunday.

A-Rod has said that he feels fine and ready to play, and that he's informed the Yankees he wants to be in the lineup when the team heads back to New York on friday to open up a series against the Rays.

"He feels he has no choice," the source told ESPNNewYork.com. "He wants to play and they won't let him play. Nobody knows Alex's body better than he does."

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Yanks Rally In The 9th To Beat The Rangers

ARLINGTON -- It's almost been routine that when the Yankees are trailing late in a game, they shut down, and fail to put up any sort for fight. But that wasn't the case Tuesday night in Arlington.

After the Rangers put together a four run 6th inning to give themselves the lead, the Yankees pulled off a 9th inning comeback to almost doesn't compute with a lineup like this.

It all started with a walk to Vernon Wells, issued by Texas' closer, all-star Joe Nathan. Wells reached second on a wild pitch, then in the clutchest of moments, Eduardo Nunez ripped a triple off the wall in center field to tie the game.

"It feels great, you know?" Nunez said. "We've had a lot of bad things this year. Now, I want to come back to play better. I think it's a great feeling for me and my teammates so I can help the team to win."

Then Brent Lillibridge earned his pinstripes by lining a single into left field to score Nunez and give the Yankees a 5-4 lead, and giving Mariano Rivera a chance to do his thing.

After striking out the first two batters he faced, Mariano induced a ground out from Daniel Murphy to end the game, picking up his 32nd save of the season.

"I saw something big for me, a slider that was big enough to swing at, and I was able to drop it into left field," Lillibridge said. "You ease a tough start of the day and finish strong."

But just a few innings earlier, all seemed like things were just going again the Yankees, and that they would let a good outing by Phil Hughes slip away.

Hughes was in control, running through the Rangers lineup through the first five innings then it all fell apart in the 6th.

With a 3-0 lead entering the inning, Hughes had held the Rangers scoreless on just two hits, before Texas rattled off a four run inning off Hughes and the bullpen.

The inning kicked off when Nelson Cruz ripped a ball that was booted by third baseman Brent Lillibridge. The hot-hitting Adrian Beltre ripped a double into the left-center field gap, motoring around the bases came Cruz to put the Rangers on the board.

After Beltre tagged and reached third on a flyball to right-center, Elvis Andrus lined a single into right field to cut the Yankees lead to 3-2. Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild made a visit to the mound, then decided to pull the plug on Hughes, making to move to have Boone Logan face Mitch Moreland with two outs.

The decision to pull Hughes didn't make much sense to me, considering he had been pitching well all night, giving up just two runs on four hits to that point.

As it turns out, the move to the pen would backfire on the Yankees, when Moreland got a hold of a fastball from Logan, launching it beyond the center field wall to pull the Rangers ahead.

"That's Boonie's job, to come in and get Moreland out," Girardi said. "Unfortunately, he didn't do it tonight, but I'll throw him out there again."

Yet in the end, the Yankees were able to channel their April lineup that had become known to be one of the more resilient lineups in the league. They pulled off the late comeback to snap a two-game losing streak, and kept them from having lost six of their last seven games.

"It's amazing how baseball sometimes works, where that random error, all of a sudden things start falling apart," Lillibridge said. "I was glad we were able to hold it close and get an opportunity late against a great closer."

"These guys never give up," Girardi said. "They keep grinding out at-bats."

The Yankees snapped another streak during the game, ending a streak of 20 straight hits that were nothing more than just singles. Melky Mesa doubled to open the 3rd, the Austin Romine doubled a batter later to bring him home.

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