Recap: Yankees Walk-Off Rangers on Thunderous Six-Run 9th Inning

A 9th-inning, rain-soaked defeat and a somber 7-1 blowout…

Not the best start to the Yankees’ four contests against the AL-best Texas Rangers. A series in which the club hoped to measure their potential as anything other than the one label forbidden in the corridors of the Bronx headquarters: ‘sellers.’

If the Yankees had any intentions of igniting a winning streak to summon traces of promise preluding the Aug. 1 trade deadline, all bets were on 2014-international-signee-turned-frontline starter, Masahiro Tanaka — 5-2, 3.01 ERA, 75 strikeouts in 98.2 IP entering Wednesday night.

After all, the impending three scheduled starters — Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, Ivan Nova — each carry burdensome ERAs north of 5.00.

Tanaka breezed through the Rangers’ first two hitters with strikeouts, but was forced to exert a total of 19 1st-inning pitches because of a missed catch error committed by first baseman Rob Refsnyder.

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New York’s offense — what was left of it with Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira benched with injuries — set a malaise tone in the 1st inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury hurried into scoring position with a chopper up the middle and stolen base (14), and then escaped a rundown as Brett Gardner reached on a fielder’s choice. However, Alex Rodriguez (in the three-hole against right-hander Nick Martinez) bounced into a well-turned double play. After getting both of their table setters on with no outs, the Yankees ultimately failed to score in the frame.

The Rangers rubbed salt in the wound immediately by reaching the scoreboard in the 2nd. An extra base hit from Prince Fielder, and a subsequent infield ground-out that advanced him to third, set the stage for Elvis Andrus to cash in the game’s first RBI with a single to left field.

The Yankees countered in the bottom of the 2nd when third baseman Chase Headley continued his upward trend by clubbing his fifth homer of the year and 500th career RBI.

The 1-1 tie would not survive the 3rd. The Rangers strung together two singles and a walk to occupy the bases with no outs. All of the runners would score on a gapper laced by Nomar Mazara, who later came around to score Texas’ fifth run.

Tanaka’s 97th pitch became a wall-scraper that Rougned Odor flicked the opposite way for his 15th home run of the season and the sixth tally mark for Texas. The staff ace picked a rather inconvenient night — but really, is there ever a convenient? — to be shelled: 6 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 76 of 110 pitches thrown for strikes.

New York appeared poised for a comeback in the 6th with two runners on and none retired, but the Yankees’ offense managed to milk only one run from the situation.

Compounding matters in the 8th, veteran third baseman Adrian Beltre homered (12) just beyond the stadium’s infamous short porch in right, drawing the Rangers’ lead out to 7-2.

Brian McCann retaliated with a solo shot (11), but tweaked a muscle rounding first base in the transition to his home-run trot. The freak twinge made for an initial scare, but the catcher remained in the game.

The Yankees continued to threaten with back-to-back singles from their middle infielders, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius. However, the rally attempt was stymied by a glove-finding fly ball and a full-count strikeout.

In a jaw-dropping turn of events, New York suddenly mustered up a monumental uproar with a six-run 9th to walk-off a game that was cloaked as a far-shot from victory just mere innings before. Singles from Refsnyder and Gardner, combined with a free pass issued to Ellsbury and a Rangers’ error, pushed across the Yankees’ fourth run.

Two batters later, McCann launched his second longball of the night (12) into the ‘Bleacher Creatures.’ The three-run, game-tying missile sent the stadium into a frenzy!

Castro prolonged the momentum by working a walk, and ultimately scored on Gregorius’ first game-ending home run (7) of his career.

With their 38th win, the Yankees remain nine games back of the division-leading Orioles and three-and-a-half lengths behind Toronto for the second wild card.