Field Level Media
May 17, 2021
Jordan Lyles pitched six solid innings and Adolis Garcia and Willie Calhoun hit solo homers off Gerrit Cole as the host Texas Rangers defeated the New York Yankees 5-2 on Monday night.
Lyles (2-3) helped the Rangers end a six-game losing streak by allowing one run on six hits. He struck out six, walked one and threw 85 pitches to lower his ERA from 6.63 to 5.93.
Starting against the Yankees for the first time in his career, the right-hander was able to constantly get ahead of hitters. He threw first-pitch strikes to the first 11 hitters and to 17 of 23 hitters overall.
Garcia and Calhoun homered off Cole (5-2) by connecting on 0-2 pitches.
In between homers, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit an RBI double and Jose Trevino had a run-scoring single off Cole in Texas' three-run second.
Gio Urshela hit an RBI single in the first inning when three of New York's first four hitters singled off Lyles. After Urshela's hit, Lyles got Gary Sanchez to hit into a double play and then stranded Brett Gardner on third in the fourth by fanning Clint Frazier.
Lyles breezed through a six-pitch fifth, then stranded Aaron Judge on first in the sixth by fanning Urshela and getting Sanchez on a groundout.
John King pitched a scoreless seventh and got the first out of the eighth before Josh Sborz allowed a solo homer to center to Luke Voit.
Sborz ended the inning on the next pitch when Judge lined out to third.
Ian Kennedy worked a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 11 chances.
Cole allowed a season-high five runs on seven hits in five-plus innings. He struck out seven and issued two walks in an 89-pitch outing that marked the third time he allowed five runs since joining the Yankees.
Cole broke a four-day-old major league record when fanned six in his first 2 1/3 innings, giving him 61 strikeouts since he last issued a walk. The streak ended when he walked Joey Gallo in the third inning.
The previous mark of 58 strikeouts without a walk was set by the Milwaukee Brewers' Corbin Burnes, whose streak was snapped by the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
After falling behind early, Texas made Cole throw 28 pitches and scored three times in the second.
Garcia hit his 11th homer by blasting an 0-2 fastball into the right-field seats. After a double by David Dahl, Kiner-Falefa ripped an RBI double to left-center field and scored on a run-scoring hit by Trevino.
Calhoun made it 4-1 by hitting an elevated 0-2 fastball over the center field fence in the fifth inning. After Calhoun's fifth homer, the Rangers took a 5-1 lead when Garcia singled and eventually stole home while Yankees' catcher Kyle Higashioka made a throwing error as Charlie Culberson stole second.
--Field Level Media