The New York Yankees won the first game last night against the Texas Rangers in a close 4-3 victory. Tonight they were looking to win a second game and create a streak that would regain a wild-card berth in the AL East. Jordan Montgomery was on the mound for the Yankees and Dane Dunning for the Rangers. Montgomery got the job done, helped by three home runs. New York Yankees 7 Texas Rangers 1, as the Yankee took the series.
Leody Taveras led off for the Rangers at Yankee Stadium facing Montgomery to start off the game, and he went down on strikes. Isiah Kiner-Falefa went down looking. Andy Ibanez hit the first pitch to no man’s land in center for a single. Adolis Garcia ground out to short to end the half.
At the bottom, DJ LeMahieu led off for the Yankees and grounded out to third. Anthony Rizzo advanced on a hit by pitch. Aaron Judge doubled to the center-field wall, and Rizzo made it to third. With two on and one out, Giancarlo Stanton ground out to short with Rizzo scoring, Judge held up at second. Joey Gallo went down on strikes, but the Yankees put a run on the board. New York Yankees 1 Rangers 0.
The second inning was led off by Nick Solak, who punched one out to right for a single. Willie Calhoun ground out into a double play. Charlie Culberson ground out to second to end the scoreless half. Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the inning and walked. Gary Sanchez lined out to short. Gardner doubled, moving Torres to third. Gio Urshela, with two on and one out, couldn’t hold up and struck out. LeMahieu ground out to short to end the inning. Yankees 1 Rangers 0.
Jose Trevino led off against Montgomery and flew out to Gardner in shallow center. Yonny Hernandez stuck out. Kiner-Falefa closed out the inning by grounding out. At the bottom of the inning, Giancarlo Stanton hit his 31st home of the season. It was a line drive to left field that left the bat at 118.5 mph and landed 415′ into the left-field stands. New York Yankees 2 and the Texas Rangers 0.
In the top of the fourth, Andy Ibanez singled off a fly ball to right with Kiner-Falafa going to third base. Adolis striking out. Ibanez went to second on a wild pitch from Jordan Montgomery; Nick Solak ended up driving in the Ranger’s only run of the game. The Yankees were scoreless in the bottom. Yankees 2 Rangers 1.
The Texas Rangers were quiet in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom, with Gio Urshela on second and DJ LeMahieu on first, Anthony Rizzo singled, driving Urshela as the Yankee tacked on another run. LeMahieu moved to second base but was stranded there. Yankees 3 and the Rangers 1.
The top of the sixth saw Montgomery throw his 93rd pitch of the game and the end of his night for the Yankees. He ended his outing only giving up 4 hits, and one earned run. At the bottom of the inning, Joey Gallo hit his 38th homer of the season to give the Yankees the 3 run lead in the game. New York Yankees 4 Texas Rangers 1.
The sixth inning was scoreless for both teams. With Michael King on the mound in the seventh inning, he continued his hitless outing, pitching a clean seventh. The Yankees blew the game open when Aaron Judge hit his 36th homer of the season, a long fly ball into the center-field stands. It was a two-run shot scoring both DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo. The New York Yankees 7 Texas 1.
The highlight of the night, home runs aside, was Luis Severino’s joyous return in the eighth inning after not pitching for over 700 games. Severino finally returned from his Tommy John surgery and setbacks to pitch in a major league game. He saved the Yankee bullpen by pitching the final two innings of the game. He allowed two hits, no walks while striking out two. He looked great in his 2021 debut outing.
The final score was the New York Yankees 7 and the Texas Rangers 1. The winning pitcher was Jordan Montgomery, and the loser was Dane Dunning that only lasted 2.2 innings. Unfortunately, the Yankees did not advance in the wild-card standings as both the Toronto team and the Red Sox also won their games.