first home run of the season and Ramiro Pena delivered a key single
while filling in for an ailing Derek Jeter, leading Andy Pettitte and
the New York Yankees over the Texas Rangers 5-2 Sunday for a three-game
sweep.
Pettitte (2-0) pitched four-hit ball
for eight innings. The World Series champions won their fourth in a row,
taking advantage of a wild Rich Harden (0-1) to hand Texas its fourth
straight loss.
A notoriously slow starter, Teixeira
hit a most-overdue homer. He shared the AL lead last year at 39 with
Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena.
Teixeira led off the third with a
high-arching drive into the second deck in right field. He was hitting
only .100 (4-for-40) this season when he connected. His glovework never
seems to suffer despite his slumps — the first baseman leaped to snag
Josh Hamilton‘s liner and made a diving, backhanded stop on Matt
Treanor‘s grounder.
It was 2-all with two outs and the
bases loaded later in the third when Pena looped a soft, two-run single
for his first hit of the season. He started because Jeter was ill with a
cold. Jeter left Saturday’s game early, giving Pena his first at-bat
this year.
Jorge Posada lined a solo home run in
the Yankees seventh.
Pettitte made the lead stand up,
retiring 12 straight batters in the middle innings. Mariano Rivera
closed for his fifth save in five tries.
Harden never found his rhythm, walking
six and hitting two batters in 3 2/3 innings.
Elvis Andrus hit an RBI double and
scored on a single by Michael Young to put Texas ahead 2-1 in the third.
Harden hit Brett Gardner and Teixeira
with pitches in the first inning. Making his 130th start in the majors,
it was the first time Harden had plunked two hitters in a game.
The speedy Gardner kept pestering
Texas. He had three infield hits Saturday, and his bunt on Harden’s
first pitch Sunday barely trickled foul. On the next pitch, Harden hit
him in the right shin. Gardner stole second and eventually scored on a
sacrifice fly by Robinson Cano.
Notes
Teixeira went 76 at-bats
before his first home run in 2007. He finished with 30 HRs. … Harden’s
six walks were one shy of a career worst. … Gardner swiped two bases,
then was caught stealing after being fooled by pitcher Darren Oliver‘s
pickoff. … Alex Rodriguez appeared to be trapped off second base when
he made an early break with reliever Dustin Nippert still holding the
ball. But Rodriguez made a nifty hook slide to beat Nippert’s throw to
third. … While Jeter didn’t play, a fan wearing a Jeter jersey made a
nice catch on a foul pop by Posada. … The Yankees posted their first
home sweep against Texas of at least three games since August 2005.