Bibens-Dirkx Pitches Rangers Past Yankees 8-1
NEW YORK (AP) — Austin Bibens-Dirkx pitched seven dazzling innings in his first shot at the New York Yankees after 12 seasons in the minors, and Carlos Gomez homered for the Texas Rangers in their 8-1 victory Saturday.
Robinson Chirinos also went deep and Elvis Andrus had a pair of run-scoring hits for the Rangers, who rebounded quickly from a difficult defeat that ended at 12:19 a.m. The teams were back on the field less than 13 hours after New York rallied to win the rain-delayed series opener 2-1 in 10 innings, and Bibens-Dirkx (3-0) lulled the Yankees' bats to sleep.
The 32-year-old rookie, promoted to the majors last month for the first time, allowed only Aaron Judge's major league-leading 26th home run in his fourth big league start. Filling a spot in Texas' injury-depleted rotation lately, the right-hander scattered five hits and walked one while striking out three on 93 efficient pitches.
Not a bad Yankee Stadium debut for a guy who was pitching in the independent Atlantic League last year and bounced all around the minors before finally getting his chance.
Fittingly, his unusual name is misspelled in the player development section of Texas' media guide, missing the "x'' in Bibens-Dirkx.
New York, which began the day leading the AL East by a percentage point over Boston, has dropped nine of 11. Texas has won 10 of 15.
Luis Cessa (0-2) flashed sharp stuff in his 11th major league start and second this season. Pitching in place of injured CC Sabathia, the right-hander struck out eight in five innings. He was charged with three runs and three hits.
Gomez hit a two-run shot off Cessa in the fourth and Texas broke it open with four in the ninth against struggling reliever Tyler Clippard, including a two-run double by Shin-Soo Choo.
Gomez also scored on a wild pitch from Clippard, booed heartily by the crowd of 40,225.
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