Yanks Win Series Against Rangers

INSIDER: The Yankees have taken 2 out of 3 against the Texas Rangers and beat them tonight 9-2. The Yankees are now tied with the Red Sox for first place in the AL East at 27-20. They also have the best road record at 13-11 with a .542 winning percentage.

ON THE MOUND:

A.J. Burnett started and was able to pick up his third win of the season. (Finally). Prior to tonight's game, he had not won since April 14 against Tampa Bay. He was pretty roughed up the last time he pitched against the Phillies. His previous 2 starts before that were good but he had nothing to show for it as he took two no decisions. Anyways he went on to pitch 6 shutout innings as he allowed just 3 hits, walked 4 and struck out 7. Chris Davis with the hat trick as he struck out 3 times. Burnett threw 118 pitches and 70 for strikes.

A.J. was also helped defensively when Kevin Cash threw out a runner at second in which could have turned into a big inning. Johnny Damon made a running catch and bumped into the wall, bobbled the ball a bit but was able to hold on for the out.

Jose Veras' struggles continue as he was only able to retire 1 batter and served up a 2-run homerun to Ian Kinsler.

David Robertson shut down the next two hitters of the 7th inning.

Chien-Ming Wang was impressive out of the pen as he hurled 2 shutout innings and struck out two. A lot of his pitches were down, his sinker was sinking but his velocity needs some improvement.

THE OFFENSE:

The Yankees got on board in the first on a Mark Teixeira 2-run homer, his 15 of the year. He has hit a total of 12 homeruns in the month of May.

In the 2nd, Derek Jeter knocked in Kevin Cash on a line drive RBI double to left. He ended up picking up three hits in the game. It was Jeter's 18 Multi-hit game of the year. Two years ago this day, Jeter accomplished a milestone as he picked up his 2000th hit of his career against the Kansas City Royals.

In the 3rd, Hideki Matsui hit a solo shot to right, his 6th of the year as the Yankees led 4-0 at the time.

In the 6th inning, Kevin Cash came through on a 2-run single to bring home Swisher and Gardner. Cash went to 2nd on the throw.

In the 7th, Hideki Matsui hit his second homerun of the game, a 2-run shot, his 7th of the year as the Yankees went up by 8.

Lastly, in the 8th inning Robinson Cano drilled his 9th homerun of the season to right, a solo shot to give the Yankees their 9th run of the game.

The Bombers have pounded out a total of 46 hits in this three-game series against the Texas Rangers.

THE BOX SCORE:

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Jeter, SS 4 1 3 1 2 0 3 .297 Damon, LF 5 0 0 0 0 3 6 .302 Teixeira, 1B 5 1 2 2 0 1 4 .275 Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 0 1 0 1 0 4 .258 Pena, 3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .246 Cano, 2B 5 2 2 1 0 0 4 .320 Matsui, DH 4 2 2 3 1 1 1 .257 1-Berroa, PR-DH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 Swisher, RF 4 1 1 0 1 1 1 .223 Gardner, CF 5 1 2 0 0 2 1 .277 Cash, C 4 1 2 2 0 0 1 .231 Totals 40 9 15 9 5 8 25


1-Ran for Matsui in the 9th.
BATTING
2B: Cash (2, Holland), Jeter (11, Holland), Rodriguez, A (4, Holland), Cano (13, Madrigal).
HR: Teixeira (15, 1st inning off Holland, 1 on, 1 out), Matsui 2 (7, 6th inning off Holland, 0 on, 0 out; 7th inning off Madrigal, 1 on, 0 out), Cano (9, 9th inning off Benson, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Jeter 4; Teixeira 5; Rodriguez, A 2; Cano 6; Matsui 8; Swisher; Gardner 2; Cash 3.
RBI: Teixeira 2 (39), Jeter (22), Matsui 3 (18), Cash 2 (3), Cano (28).
2-out RBI: Jeter.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon; Cano 2; Rodriguez, A.
GIDP: Cano.
Team RISP: 3-for-9.
Team LOB: 10.

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Burnett (W, 3-2) 6.0 3 0 0 4 7 0 4.78 Veras 0.1 2 2 2 1 0 1 6.41 Robertson 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.84 Wang 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 20.45
PLAYER OF THE GAME:

A.J. Burnett.

UP NEXT:

Off-day.