Corey Seager hit a home run and rookie Cody Bradford delivered five solid innings as the Texas Rangers defeated the New York Yankees 9-4 to split their doubleheader on Saturday.
Rookie Wyatt Langford contributed with two hits and a stolen base, while Adolis García capped off the doubleheader with five hits and an RBI, helping Texas break a three-game losing streak from their rescheduled series due to Friday’s rain.
“Pretty cool,” Seager said of hitting his first home run at Yankee Stadium. As a Yankees fan growing up, Seager’s connection to the stadium is personal; his parents hail from upstate New York, and his father played college baseball at Fairleigh Dickinson University, just under 10 miles from Yankee Stadium.
In the first game, Carlos Rodón gave up three hits over 5 2/3 innings, and Austin Wells drove in four runs in the Yankees’ 8-0 victory. Aaron Judge added his major league-leading 105th RBI and reached base four times. García and Josh Jung each had two hits for Texas.
The win in Game 2 marked the Rangers’ fourth victory in their last 14 games. They are currently 6 1/2 games behind the AL West leaders, Houston and Seattle. The Astros won 5-4 against the Red Sox, and Seattle is scheduled to play the Mets later on Saturday.
“That’s more our baseball,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s been frustrating because we haven’t clicked.”
Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit home runs in the second game for New York, which fell a half-game behind Baltimore in the American League East and for the best record in the AL. The Orioles will play Tampa Bay later on Saturday. Chisholm made a costly mental error at third base in the loss.
Seager’s 25th home run of the season was part of a five-run sixth inning. Nathaniel Lowe and García had consecutive singles with one out. Leody Tavares hit a sinking line drive to right.
Juan Soto made a diving attempt to catch the ball but dropped it as he hit the ground. Soto threw to the infield, and Gleyber Torres quickly threw to third base.
Lowe was initially called out at third, but the call was reversed after it was shown that Chisholm’s back foot had come off the bag as he tried to tag Lowe instead of accepting the force out.