New York Yankees Recap: Gregorius Powers Yankees to 6-2 Win in Texas

After taking two-of-three games from the Minnesota Twins, the New York Yankees headed down South to the Lone Star State to take on the Texas Rangers. If you thought it was hot outside today in the boogie down Bronx, think again. First pitch at 8:05 pm EST in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was a scorching 99 degrees, as Matt Harrison was set to square off against Ivan Nova.

The Rangers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, as Elvis Andrus doubled in Josh Hamilton and Leonys Martin singled in Andrus.

A half inning later, the Bronx Bombers answered back in a hurry. Sir Didi Gregorius hit a two-run homer to knot the ballgame up at two. Brendan Ryan followed that up with a triple, and later came around to score on a Chris Young sacrifice fly, putting the Yankees up 3-2.

Ivan Nova worked into and out of trouble, getting out of a one out bases loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth to preserve the 3-2 Yankees lead.

Alex Rodriguez celebrated his 40th Birthday with an opposite field home run in the top of the sixth, it was his 24th homer of the season, putting the Yankees up 4-2. Fun fact, A-Rod now leads the entire Major Leagues with six home runs on his birthday, surpassing Todd Helton and Chipper Jones, who both had five.

Chasen Shreve replaced Ivan Nova to start the bottom of the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 inning. Nova’s final line on the day; 5.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 Runs (both earned), 2 BBs, 3 SO.

After a leadoff walk to Carlos Beltran was followed up by a double off the bat of Chase Headley to start the top of the seventh inning, the Yankees chased Matt Harrison from the ballgame, as he was replaced by Sam Freeman.

On Freeman’s first pitch out of the Rangers bullpen, Didi Gregorius smacked an inside fastball over the infield, plating Beltran and Headley, extending the Yankees lead to 6-2. Both runs were charged to Harrison, and Didi Gregorius posted a new career high with 4 RBI in tonight’s ballgame.

Shreve pitched another scoreless inning in the bottom half of the seventh, including a big strikeout against Prince Fielder. Shreve improved his season stats to 53 strikeouts and a 1.60 ERA through 50.2 innings pitched out of the Yankees bullpen so far this season. If the Yankees don’t end up trading for a reliever before the trade deadline, they should strongly consider unsung Chasen Shreve as their every-day seventh inning swing-man ahead of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller.

Justin Wilson came on in relief in the bottom of the eighth and immediately gave up a leadoff walk to Mitch Moreland. A wild pitch moved Moreland over to second, but Wilson settled in and retired the next three batters in order.

Dellin Betances pitched a scoreless ninth inning and nailed down the Yankees win. Ivan Nova improved to 3-3 on the season, and the Yankees improved their overall record to 56-42 and 7.0 games over the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays atop the AL East.

The Yankees will take on the Texas Rangers again at 8:05pm EST tomorrow night for game two of this four-game set.

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