New York Yankees’ first road series win over Texas Rangers in 2011 season – MLB Review
It was second series of the New York Yankees against the Texas Rangers in the 2011 regular season. Yankees had overthrown the Rangers 2-1 in the first series at Yankee Stadium in April. The location had now changed to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, where
the Rangers had lost very few outings.
Yankees were under pressure because of receiving three consecutive losses by the Detroit Tigers in the road series. The only way to come out of this stress was to overcome the Rangers in the first outing played at Rangers Ballpark on May 6.
With heavy pressure on their backs, the Yankees’ batting and pitching combined to create an early impression. Curtis Granderson launched a two-run homer at the top of the first inning, which helped Nova start with some confidence. Derek Jeter increased the
lead 3-0 in the second and Curtis Granderson hammered another home-run in the seventh inning to elevate it 4-0.
"Curtis was outstanding with the two home runs and giving us a lead. That's always good for a young pitcher," manager Joe Girardi said.
As an early back up was provided to the starter, Nova tossed seven-shutout innings before allowing the only run of the game in the eighth inning. Although his spell was limited to only one strike-out, to consider it a game winner would not be a bad idea.
The much-needed win had come the Yankees way and the club now had to prove it as an earned win rather than a fluke. This could happen if the Yankees had not lost their momentum in the second outing.
Bartolo Colon was appraised as starter and Girardi was sure to see another series win, but the Rangers staged five runs in the first two innings, which also included two homers. It was the crucial stage for the batting line-up, which acted as per the expectations
and managed to tie the game at five-all in the top of the sixth inning. Mark Teixeira earned an RBI, Robinson Cano touched a triple to reduce the lead to 5-4 in the third and then Nick Swisher hammered a one-run game-tier homer in the sixth.
However, the Rangers took the game to 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth and they defended it until the end of the outing.
"Colon was just in the middle of the plate more. He didn't have his great stuff and that's going to happen from time to time," Girardi said.
The last outing has turned into a series finale and both clubs, by any means, were ambitious to take the outing.
In the last outing, the Yankees started late but stopped only after closing down the outing at 12-5 for another series win. Going down at 0-4 in the bottom of the second inning, the club could not afford any loose play.
Yankees scored two runs each in the third, fifth and the seventh inning and then piled six more runs in the eighth to snatch back the outing 12-5 and the series 2-1. Jeter hammered two home-runs, while Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Francisco Cervelli each
launched one homer. Cervelli splashed a high hit for a grand slam, statistically the first grand slam from the Yankees in the 2011 regular season.
It was the happy news for the Yankees’ fans as the club had beaten the Rangers in a road series after a long time. The journey however was continuing as the next match-up was with Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium from May 10 to 12.
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