Texas 15, NY Yankees 4
When: 1:05 PM ET, Saturday, May 23, 2015
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Temperature:
60°
Umpires:
Home -
Brian Knight, 1B -
Toby Basner, 2B -
Larry Vanover, 3B -
Ron Kulpa
Attendance:
42067
By The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK -- The Texas Rangers have been among the most productive offenses in the American League this month and it seems that their last two third innings are indicative of that upward trend.
For the second straight game, the Rangers had a big third against the New York Yankees, as right fielder Shin-Soo Choo drove in four runs during a 10-run inning of a 15-4 rout on Saturday.
The Rangers won for the 10th time in 13 games and scored double-digit runs against the Yankees in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.
Texas had their its 10-run inning since Aug. 19, 2013, against Houston, posted its most lopsided win over the Yankees since a 17-6 victory on July 31, 2002, and scored its most runs in New York since a 16-5 rout on Aug. 15, 1998.
"It's very nice," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "It's what we thought we'd see in spring training. It took a little time. It's still early that we're a quarter of the way into the season.
"We need to have that show up consistently throughout but it's nice to see at this juncture."
Choo entered the third in a 3-for-22 slump after grounding out in his first at-bat, but opened the scoring with a single up the middle against CC Sabathia (2-6).
That came after center fielder Delino DeShields base reached on an infield single when shortstop Didi Gregorius tried to make a behind-the-back throw to second baseman Stephen Drew instead of stepping on second for the forceout.
Designated hitter Prince Fielder followed up his two home-run game with an RBI single and wound up on second when right fielder Carlos Beltran did not put his glove to the ground and the ball went through his legs, allowing Choo to score.
After the hits by Choo and Fielder, shortstop Elvis Andrus added a two-run single, which came one pitch after Sabathia was charged with a wild pitch when catcher John Ryan Murphy was unable to find the ball.
On the next pitch, Andrus lined a single up the middle that easily scored both runners.
After knocking out Sabathia, the Rangers added two more runs on a double by Corporan and a sacrifice fly by Smolinski. They extended the lead to 10-0 on Choo's home run down the left line.
The second straight big third inning made Texas 12-for-18 in that inning during the last two games and they have scored 17 times.
"We've been getting good at-bats," Andrus said of an offense that is hitting .274 this month after batting .210 in April. "I think we're really aggressive the first couple of innings and you can see it later in the game.
"Today we didn't take any at-bat for granted and everybody was having a plan against CC and we're glad everything was good."
Texas added three in the sixth. Choo made it 11-0 by scoring on a wild pitch. Andrus lifted a sacrifice fly and second baseman Adam Rosales added an RBI single.
The Rangers made it 15-1 when Fielder hit his third home run of the series with two out and a runner on in the seventh.
Nick Martinez (4-0), who pitched three years at nearby Fordham University, settled down after putting two on with one out in the first and retired 15 of the next 16 hitters before allowing a solo home run to Beltran in the sixth.
Martinez also gave up a solo home run to Gregorius in the seventh and allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.
"That first inning, I didn't have it, but I locked it in after that and went on the attack," Martinez said.
While the Rangers (20-23) continued their recent improvement, the Yankees (22-21) dropped their season-high fifth straight game and fell to 1-9 in their last 10 games after winning 18 of their previous 24.
"It's pretty frustrating to me watching what we watched today," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "You know during that the course of the season you're going to have those games and it doesn't make it any easier."
New York allowed its most runs in an inning since a 14-run second against the Cleveland Indians in a 22-4 loss on April 18, 2009. The Yankees also allowed innings of at least seven runs in consecutive games for the first time at home since June 11-12, 1907, against the Detroit Tigers, and first time overall since June 19-20, 2002, in Colorado.
"I think the fastball was up and they played pepper," said Sabathia, who was torched for six runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Sabathia's shortest non-injury start in nearly nine years was slightly better than reliever Esmil Rogers, who gave up seven runs and four hits in three innings.
Things were so bad for the Yankees that Garrett Jones wound up moving from first base to the mound and recorded the final two outs of the ninth.
NOTES: New York RHP Chase Whitley, who underwent Tommy John surgery Tuesday, said he will have the sling removed Sunday. He also said that when he was injured May 14 in Tampa Bay it was the first time he had ever asked to come out of any game in any sport that he had ever played. ... RHP Chris Martin (right elbow tendinitis) threw a second bullpen session Saturday and the Yankees said they hope to get into him a rehab game next week. ... According to Elias Sports Bureau, Prince Fielder and Cecil Fielder are the only father and son to have multi-home-run games in New York against the Yankees. Prince Fielder did it Friday; his father did it three times. ... Texas OF Josh Hamilton was slated to play the outfield Saturday night for Triple-A Round Rock after going 2-for-5 Friday in his eighth rehab game.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Texas
|
15 |
2 |
23 |
.375 |
16 |
10 |
13 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
NY Yankees
|
7 |
2 |
15 |
.200 |
16 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |