New York Yankees 2, Texas Rangers 15
ARLINGTON, Texas — Nestor Cortes gave up a grand slam to Josh Jung in the first inning. Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garca also hit home runs off the All-Star, and the Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees 15-2 on Sunday, giving the Yankees their sixth loss in eight games.
Nestor Cortes (3-2) had the worst game of his career with the Yankees. He gave up seven runs, five hits, and four of New York’s eight walks. His ERA went from 3.49 to 4.91, which is double what it was last year, when he made his first All-Star team at 2.88.
Texas has won three straight games after losing four in a row. Fellow All-Star Martín Pérez (4-1) gave up one run and six hits in six innings. Jung’s five RBI tied his all-time high.
Since losing to Cleveland 19–5 on August 15, 2019, this was the most runs New York gave up. After a 2-5 road trip, the Yankees are 15-14 and tied for last place in the AL East, eight games behind first-place Tampa Bay.
“Adversity is coming for us. We know it and we will get through it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The league waits for no one, and no one is going to feel sorry for us for what we’re going through. Even though we are beat up a little bit, we’re still capable of going out there and winning ballgames. That’s what we’ve got to find a way to do right now.”
Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ captain, missed his third straight game with a mild hip strain. He was joined on the bench by Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain), Harrison Bader (left oblique strain), and Josh Donaldson (right hamstring strain). During its last six games, New York has only scored eight runs.
Robbie Grossman and Lowe both walked with one out after Cortes threw them out, and García hit a single down the right-field line while Oswaldo Cabrera moved to right-center. Jung’s first career grand slam came when he hit a 2-2 slider over the right-field wall from the opposite field. Since September 28, 2019, at the Rangers’ old field, Cortes had not given up a grand slam.
“It was tough today to find the fastball,” Cortes said. “I thought the cutter worked really well, but when you don’t have your fastball and you can’t control both sides of the plate, it’s difficult to pitch.”
In the fifth, Lowe and García both hit home runs in a span of three pitches. After Cortes got Jung out, Albert Abreu came in and Jonah Heim hit a home run on his first pitch.
Heim had three hits and drove in three runs, and Grossman hit in 11 straight games. The Rangers beat the Yankees by 13 runs, which was their second-largest win over them ever. It was also the first time they beat the Yankees in a four-game series since July 1995.
UP NEXT
Domingo Germán, a right-handed pitcher with a 2-2 record and a 5.54 ERA, is scheduled to start Monday’s game against the visiting Cleveland.
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