García's 2-run homer in the 10th lifts the Rangers over the struggling Yankees 4-2
Adolis García hit a two-run homer on Michael King's first pitch of the 10th inning, and the Texas Rangers beat the slumping New York Yankees 4-2 on Friday night for their fifth win in six games.
New York's offense again struggled in the absence of injured slugger Aaron Judge. The Yankees are last in the major leagues in batting average and runs in June, managing six hits or fewer in five of their last six games. They are 10-16 this year when Judge has been on the injured list, losing 10 of 16 since he hurt a toe. New York is 31-19 with Judge available.
The team's other big slugger, Giancarlo Stanton, is hitting .096 since returning from a strained hamstring, going 5 for 52 with a pair of solo homers for his only RBIs.
Texas leads the AL West and tops the majors in scoring and batting average.
García drove a hanging curve from King (1-4) into the left-field seats, giving him 17 homers and 60 RBIs. King has struggled of late, with a 9.95 ERA in his previous five outings.
Joe Barlow (1-0) worked around a two-out single in the ninth, and Will Smith pitched the 10th for his 14th save in 15 chances.
Texas trailed 1-0 when Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Anthony Volpe allowed Leody Taveras' two-out popup off Clarke Schmidt to drop in the fourth and Ezequiel Durán, who reached on an infield single, scored from first when Kiner-Falefa overran the ball in center for an error.
Kiner-Falefa was part of an odd play in the fifth when he tried to steal second and was called safe by umpire John Bacon even though IKF's foot popped off the base. Kiner-Falefa started walking toward the Yankees' dugout and was tagged out by shortstop Corey Seager; a video review likely would have seen Kiner-Falefa called out.
Mitch Garver hit a go-ahead single with two outs in the eighth off Yankees reliever Clay Holmes for a 2-1 lead but pinch-hitter Kyle Higashioka's sacrifice fly against John King tied the score in the bottom half.
New York had gone ahead in the second after Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch and slumping DJ LaMahieu hit a one-out double that went off the left-field wall on a hop. With runners on second and third, Dane Dunning got the next three batters to hit soft grounders on the first pitch. The second, by Billy McKinney, drove in a run.
Schmidt allowed an unearned run and six hits in 5 1/3 innings, while Dunning gave up two runs and five hits in seven-plus innings.
RANGERS ROTATION
Nathan Eovaldi will start Sunday's series finale on normal rest and flip spots with Andrew Heaney, who will take the mound Monday in a homestand opener against Detroit.
FAMILIAR FACE
Robbie Grossman's second-inning double made him 5 for 5 in his career against Schmidt with three doubles and a homer. Grossman grounded out his next two times up against the 27-year-old right-hander.
PRELUDE
Lynn Williams of the U.S. Women's World Cup team threw out the ceremonial first pitch, bouncing it to the third-base side of the plate.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: RHP Jack Leiter, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 amateur draft, was scratched from his start for Double-A Frisco. The Rangers said he will miss one turn because of fatigue and workload management and they will put him on the developmental list.
Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (strained left rotator cuff) is about a week from throwing off a mound. ... DH/OF Willie Calhoun's strained left quadriceps is between grade 1 and 2.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Luis Severino (0-2, 6.30 ERA) and Texas RHP Jon Gray (6-2, 2.96) start Saturday. Gray is 5-1 with a 1.99 ERA in his last seven starts.
