Harrison Bader’s two-run double in the 8th leads Yankees to series-stealing victory over the Rangers
With the Yankees trailing, 3-2, Anthony Volpe got the party started in the eighth inning when he led off with a double. Jose Trevino then reached on a slow groundball to short, setting Harrison Bader up for a two-run double off Rangers reliever Yerry Rodriguez. Texas then scored two more off the right-hander in the second, as Jonah Heim hit a solo home run before...
The Yankees were able to steal a series from the first-place Rangers on Sunday, as a late rally sparked a 5-3 comeback win in the Bronx.
With the Yankees trailing, 3-2, Anthony Volpe got the party started in the eighth inning when he led off with a double. Jose Trevino then reached on a slow groundball to short, setting Harrison Bader up for a two-run double off Rangers reliever Yerry Rodriguez.
With Rodriguez still in the game, Giancarlo Stanton then added an RBI single for good measure. Stanton entered Sunday’s game with six hits and two RBI in his last 55 at-bats.
Prior to the three-run frame, the Rangers made Gerrit Cole sweat from the get-go. A first-inning single from Corey Seager gave Texas a quick 1-0 lead, and Cole needed 27 pitches to get through the opening inning.
Texas then scored two more off the right-hander in the second, as Jonah Heim hit a solo home run before Leody Taveras picked up an RBI double.
All in all, Cole totaled 4.2 innings, nine hits, three earned runs, one walk and seven strikeouts over 107 pitches. While he didn’t allow any more runs after the second, he failed to complete five innings for the first time since June 9 of last year.
Cole now has a 2.78 ERA this season.
Nathan Eovaldi, on the other hand, held his former team to two earned runs over 5.2 innings. The right-hander also tallied four hits, two walks, five strikeouts and 86 pitches.
Eovaldi now has a 2.82 ERA in his first season with the Rangers. The Yankees’ only runs off him came courtesy of DJ LeMahieu, who smoked a two-run double in the second inning.
Jimmy Cordero, Nick Ramirez, Ron Marinaccio and Michael King kept the Rangers at bay out of the bullpen.
With the Yankees’ homestand over, the team has Monday off before beginning a road trip against two last-place teams.
The tumultuous Athletics will host the Yankees from June 27-29. The Yanks swept Oakland over three games at Yankee Stadium in May thanks to an offensive onslaught that broke the Bombers out of a funk. They’re hoping another series against the A’s does the same for the Yankees’ lineup, which has scored more than three runs just fives times since June 6.
Jhony Brito, Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt will pitch against the A’s, while Paul Blackburn and former Yankee JP Sears are scheduled to throw for Oakland. The A’s haven’t announced their Thursday starter yet.
Once the Yankees are done in California, they’ll head to St. Louis for three games against a surprisingly bad Cardinals team.
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