The Yankees hit three home runs on the way to a 7-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night to remain in the Wild Card race.
Here are the takeaways…
1. Anthony Rizzo got hit by a pitch from Dane Dunning for the team’s first runner on base, and would advance to third on Aaron Judge‘s double off the wall in right-center field. Giancarlo Stanton drove in Rizzo with a hard groundout to short, making it a 1-0 game.
2. Stanton came through once again in the third inning, this time rocketing a line drive home run down the line to left field and giving the Yanks a 2-0 lead. The 118.5 mph blast was Stanton’s 31st homer of the year, his hardest hit of the season, and the third hardest hit in the MLB this year. It was also No. 343 for his career, moving him into sole possession of 100th place all-time.
3. Jordan Montgomery walked Isiah Kiner-Falefa to lead off the fourth, and then let up a hard hit single to Andy Ibanez off the wall in right field. With runners on the corners and no one out, Montgomery struck out Adolis Garcia but Gary Sanchez let the ball get away and Ibanez advanced to second. Nick Solak drove in a run on a groundout, making it 2-1, but that’s all the Rangers would get in the inning.
4. Gio Urshela and Brett Gardner hit back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fifth, and Urshela scored on Rizzo’s single through the shift to left as the Yanks took a 3-1 lead. Judge grounded to third as the Rangers got the force at second base, and then Stanton grounded into the inning ending 5-4-3 double play.
5. Montgomery let up a double to Ibanez with two outs in the sixth inning, and was then replaced on the mound by Michael King. Montgomery allowed one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 IP and 93 pitches.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Joey Gallo went deep to right against his former team to make it a 4-1 game.
6. King struck out the side looking in the top of the seventh to keep the lead. In the bottom half, Judge crushed a three-run homer to right-center field and put the Yanks up 7-1.
7. Luis Severino made his long anticipated return to the mound in the eighth inning, pitching for the first time since 2019. He struck out the first batter Jose Trevino with a circle changeup in the dirt. Sevy forced a groundout to Rizzo for the second out, and then let up a double to the right-center gap. The righty struck out Kiner-Falefa to get out of the inning.
Severino stayed in to pitch the ninth and close out the game. He allowed two hits and struck out two over 2.0 IP and 30 pitches.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees and Rangers wrap up their series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium.
Corey Kluber takes the mound for the Yanks and will go up against Taylor Hearn for the Rangers.