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 Not a bad Wednesday night.
The Rangers' 5-2 victory over the Yankees at Globe Life Park served
as a mere backdrop to a blockbuster deal that landed Hamels. Word of
the multiplayer trade began to circulate during the game and was
widely reported by several media outlets.
Neither club confirmed the transaction, and Rangers officials
declined comment after the game.
Texas first baseman Mitch Moreland, however, called Hamels a "great
pitcher" before the clubhouse closed early.
"I watched the no-hitter the other day, too," Moreland said,
referring to Hamels' outing Saturday against the Chicago Cubs. "It
was pretty impressive. He's got a long track record of great
success. It'll but huge for us."
Hamels, signed through 2018, was acquired from Philadelphia with
next season and beyond in mind for a club with fleeting playoff
aspirations this season.
Texas (48-52) did snap a three-game losing skid behind solid outing
from starter Colby Lewis and left fielder Josh Hamilton's two RBI.
The American League East-leading Yankees (57-43) were coming off a
21-5 rout the previous night, but their four-game winning streak
ended. New York is 4-2 on its current 10-game road trip and would
take three in the four-game series with Texas with a win Thursday
night.
Lewis put in another solid showing in improving to 11-4. After a
shaky first two innings, the veteran righty settled into a groove
and went six innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with five
strikeouts.
"The first couple of innings I didn't feel like I had a lot of stuff
going," Lewis said. "Kind of felt like I was feeling for a lot of
pitches. I was able to get through those innings and establish the
slider again and make some good pitches and get some quick outs."
Texas closer Shawn Tolleson worked an uneventful ninth for his 18th
save.
Hamilton, after a night off, was one of three Rangers with multiple
hits and the only with multiple RBIs. He knocked in the team's first
and last runs.
"We took a good licking yesterday," Hamilton said, "but came back
today and didn't let it get us down and played a good ballgame."
Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, working on an extra day of rest,
went six innings and gave up four runs on nine hits. He said the
command wasn't there.
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"It's not just the splitter," said Tanaka (7-4). "It goes for pretty
much all the pitches I was throwing today. I just didn't have
command of them."
Unlike the fireworks of the night before, the first few innings were
relatively tame. All the early scoring took place in the second, as
both teams put up crooked numbers.
Right fielder Carlos Beltran put the Yankees on the board with a
leadoff shot into the Texas bullpen in right. New York went up 2-0
on center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury's single to center that scored
red-hot shortstop Didi Gregorius.
The Rangers came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to
take the lead. Hamilton, right fielder Shin-Soo Choo and center
fielder Delino DeShields each had run-scoring singles off Tanaka.
Texas made it 4-2 in the fifth when third baseman Adrian Beltre
scored on a double-play ball by Hamilton. It was the first double
play the Rangers hit into in 10 games, ending the longest streak in
the majors this season.
NOTES: The Rangers are 15-9 against the AL East this season. ...
Texas recalled LHP Alex Claudio and RHP Jon Edwards from Triple-A
Round Rock, optioned RHP Phil Klein to Round Rock and designated LHP
Wandy Rodriguez for assignment. ... The Yankees designated LHP Chris
Capuano for assignment and called up RHP Caleb Cotham from Triple-A
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Cotham threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings
Wednesday. ... On Tuesday, the Yankees became the first team in
major league history to score at least 21 consecutive runs after
allowing the first five (or more) runs in a game. ... In the past 11
years, a team scored at least 21 runs seven times. Either the
Rangers or the Yankees were involved in six of those games.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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