The Texas Rangers’ Mike Minor and two relievers on Monday became the first pitchers in 221 tries to shut out the New York Yankees’ vaunted lineup, helping the Rangers to a 7-0 victory over the American League East leaders.
“He almost made it look easy,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said.
The Yankees had the second-longest streak without being blanked since at least 1900, behind a 308-game stretch by the Babe Ruth-led Yankees from 1931 to 1933. The Yankees were previously shut out on June 30 last year by Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox.
Photo: AP
The left-hander Minor struck out five, walked one and threw 111 pitches before being pulled with two batters on in the eighth inning.
“He’s nasty, man,” Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier said. “His fastball plays up, which means it might say 92 [148kph] but it feels faster than that, and he obviously threw every pitch that he wanted in every count that he wanted.”
Shawn Kelley replaced Minor and retired DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge to end the eighth inning. Emmanuel Clase shut down the heart of the order in the ninth inning to end the Yankees’ streak of 220 games with at least a run.
Minor allowed just one runner past second base.
“It felt like he could execute pretty much any pitch to any location,” Woodward said. “With his stuff — he’s got elite stuff at times — when you get that plus the command, it’s tough.”
The Yankees’ scoring streak nearly fell on Sunday when they trailed Oakland 4-0 after 7-1/2 innings, but the Yankees rallied and won 5-4 on Mike Ford’s game-ending solo homer in the ninth inning.
“Anytime we don’t score or have a good offensive showing, it’s always a little bit surprising just because our guys are so good, but it happens,” manager Aaron Boone said. “When a good pitcher’s on top of his game, he can make it tough on you — credit to him.”
Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (10-8) ground through six innings of two-run ball. He allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out five for the Yankees, who had won six of seven.
The game was delayed 2 hours, 52 minutes by rain, but then played under mostly sunny skies.
Also on Monday, it was:
‧ Astros 3, Brewers 2
‧ Dodgers 16, Rockies 9
‧ Cubs 5, Mariners 1
‧ Braves 6, Blue Jays 3
‧ Cardinals 3, Giants 1
‧ Twins 4, Tigers 3
‧ Mets 7, Nationals 3
‧ Indians 11, White Sox 3
‧ Diamondbacks 14, Padres 7
‧ Phillies 7, Reds 1
‧ Rays 5, Orioles 4
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