New York @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 20, 2010 ) Texas 2, NY Yankees 7
The Texas Rangers have the New York Yankees on the ropes. Now comes the hard part: knocking out the reigning World Series champions.
Texas can secure its first trip to the World Series with a victory over the Yankees in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night at Rangers Ballpark.
Colby Lewis (1-0) will get the start for the Rangers against New York's Phil Hughes (0-1) in a rematch of Game 2.
The Yankees fought off elimination and forced the series back to Texas with a 7-2 victory in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The Rangers had won the first two games in the Bronx and lead the best-of-7 series 3-2.
Texas has had trouble closing out series thus far. The Rangers won the first two games of the division series at Tampa Bay but failed in two chances to clinch on their home field and were forced to win Game 5 on the road behind ace Cliff Lee.
With Lee rested and ready to pitch a decisive Game 7 if necessary, Texas likes its chances after rebounding from a crushing loss in the series opener to take the next three games from the Yankees.
“If you would have told us that we could have Cliff going in Game 5 down in Tampa, we would have taken it," Rangers outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. "And if you told me we’d have to win one out of two at home with Colby and Cliff going, I’d take it even more.”
The Yankees will be looking to get a better performance from Hughes, who went 18-8 in the regular season but was pounded for seven runs on 10 hits in just four innings in Game 2. Seven of the 10 hits off Hughes went for extra bases.
The Rangers haven’t stopped hitting since that game. They have outscored New York 32-18, and even in Wednesday’s loss, the Rangers had 11 of their 13 hits off Yankees ace CC Sabathia.
Hughes, who entered the series having tossed 15 1/3 scoreless innings in his career against Texas, will be staring at a lineup featuring six players batting over .300 in the ALCS.
David Murphy had a homer and a double off him in Game 2 and Nelson Cruz also had a pair of doubles. Cruz is expected to play Friday after leaving Game 5 with an ailing hamstring.
Center fielder Josh Hamilton has also come alive at the plate and has four homers and seven RBIs against New York pitching.
Lewis, who pitched in Japan in 2008 and 2009, went 5 2/3 innings in Game 2, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out six.
One of the hits was a solo homer by Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, who is batting .421 (8-for-19) with four home runs.
New York will be without first baseman Mark Teixeira, who is done for the year after pulling a hamstring in Game 4.