Yankees erupt for four runs in eighth inning to sweep Rangers, regain AL Wild Card spot

NEW YORK — For seven innings, the Yankees offense sputtered in its chances to push ahead of the Rangers.

But one inning and a two-out rally was all the Yankees needed to strike and change the narrative of the game. The Yankees broke open a tie game with four runs in the eight inning and emerged with a 7-3 victory over the Rangers in front of 25,170 fans on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

"I thought the at-bats got really competitive there at the end," manager Aaron Boone said. "We did some really good things on both sides of the ball there in the second half of the game and then put together some really good winning at-bats there to put it away at the end. A sluggish start to things, but a really strong finish to things."

The victory capped a three-game sweep over the Rangers with a massive nine-game stretch against the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rays looming over the final week and a half of the season.

In a 3-3 game against Rangers reliever Shane Patton in the eighth, Joey Gallo — the pull-happy lefty — blooped a two-out double into a vacated shallow left field and set the stage for Gleyber Torres' go-ahead RBI double into the right-field corner.

"The bat before, we had the bases loaded and I struck out, so those kinds of moments, I just want to try and help my team to do the little things," Torres said. "That at-bat, I was just waiting for an opportunity, and after Gallo's double, walking to home plate, I talked to myself and told myself it's a big opportunity I had and just try to do the little things."

A booted ground ball by Yonny Hernandez provided another run as Torres slid under a close tag, and Gary Sanchez blew the game open with a two-run home run into center field.

The Yankees moved back into an AL Wild Card spot with Wednesday's win and the Blue Jays' 7-1 loss to the Rays in their afternoon matinee. They remained two games back of the Red Sox for the top Wild Card spot after Boston dismantled the Mets, 12-5.

"We're very happy to have done what we needed to do this series, but we also know that we still have several really important games ahead of us, so we're ready," Kyle Higashioka said.

The Yankees weathered a patchy start from Corey Kluber, went down by three runs early and scored the tying run in the sixth inning without a hit and on a wild pitch. Then, the offense erupted with two outs in the eighth.

After trailing 3-0 after the top of the fifth inning, Higashioka collected a big two-run double and Aaron Judge scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the sixth. 

Higashioka finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and was robbed of two more on a leaping grab by DJ Peters at the wall with two runners in scoring position in the second. Sanchez replaced Higashia in the eighth and was able to catch Adolis Garcia stealing and added two more RBIs with his 23rd home run of the season.

"Any time the catchers are producing on offense and defense, we do take a lot of pride in that," Higashioka said. "We're just extra happy tonight."

Bullpen boost

In a big spot, Corey Kluber fell victim to some soft contact and could not deliver against the team with the second-fewest runs and second-lowest batting average in Major League Baseball.

He gave up eight hits — the most he has given up in a single outing in 2021 — and needed 84 pitches to go 4⅓ innings.

"I thought I made a lot of quality pitches. I think six of the eight hits I gave up, I'll say were not hit hard, but I think that's part of the game," Kluber said. "As a pitcher, when that happens, you have to try and realize that you made a good pitch, executed the pitch and try to go out there and do it again."

The Yankees' bullpen, however, was there to provide a lift. They did not allow a hit over the final four innings to keep the Rangers' offense grounded.

Wandy Peralta was able to stay composed after an error put runners on the corners, getting Garcia to fly out to short and Willie Calhoun to ground out to first. He also picked a pair of comebackers to the mound in the sixth inning.

Clay Holmes pitched a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts. Chad Green, who earned the win, skirted past a bobble by Urshela and face the minimum number of batters after Garcia was caught stealing.

And Aroldis Chapman came on to pin down the result, picking up strikeouts of Charlie Culberson and Jose Trevino in the ninth.

Missed opportunities

Four separate Yankees reached third base through the first seven innings only to be turned away.

In the fifth, Higashioka stood at third base with one out following his two-run double into center field that got the Yankees within 3-2 in the fifth.

DJ LeMahieu hit a ball to the middle of right field, but Garcia made a sharp, pinpoint accurate throw home to throw out Higashioka for an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Yankees loaded the bases on three straight walks and a pitch to the backstop from Dennis Santana tied the game. But Torres went too far on a check-swing and Gio Urshela looked at a called third strike to end the inning. 

Higashioka led off the seventh with a single, and Tyler Wade came on as a pinch runner and stole second and third. But the frame ended with LeMahieu striking out and Anthony Rizzo popping up to center field.

Finally, in the eighth, the Yankees cashed in a big spot to grab the most important lead of the game.