On a night when they were short in the bullpen and facing one of the game’s tougher pitchers, the Yankees fell behind by three runs in the top of the first inning.
Ho hum.
That proved to be little more than a bump in the road as a humming Yankees lineup came back to crack Jacob deGrom for six runs on the way to their fifth straight win, 7-4 over the Rangers on Tuesday in The Bronx.
Ryan McMahon tied the game 3-3 in the second inning with a two-run shot before Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave the Yankees (25-11) the lead for good with a solo blast in the sixth, sending them to their 15th win in the last 17 games.
“Every time someone goes up to the plate, we expect them to get a hit,” said Chisholm, who has hit all four of his home runs this season in his last 12 games. “Every time a pitcher gets called into a game, we expect them to get out of every jam. The positivity in the clubhouse right now is just super crazy.
“Everybody’s on a real high horse right now and we just want to ride it out as long as we can.”
Just about everything has been clicking lately for Aaron Boone’s club, from the rotation and bullpen to the offense and defense. On Tuesday, the highlight may have been the bullpen picking each other up throughout the night to keep the Rangers (16-19) in check, with Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz and David Bednar (five-out save) combining to inherit eight runners and strand all of them — only the second time the Yankees have accomplished that feat in the expansion era.
“I think they’re just better than everyone thinks,” Boone said of his bullpen that is gaining confidence and becoming a tight-knit group with each passing game.
That standout effort came on a night when rookie Elmer Rodríguez, making his second career start and his last (for now) with Carlos Rodón set to return from the IL the next turn through, put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole in the first inning while throwing 37 pitches.
The right-hander battled more command issues with four walks, the same number he had in his debut, but again settled in to give his team a fighting chance before being optioned back to Triple-A after the game.
“Unbelievable game,” Boone said. “In the first there, we’re short in the pen and you’re just thinking of ways you hopefully can finish the game. Credit to Elmer for picking himself up and giving us 4 ²/₃ after a rough start. And then so many good at-bats to pull us back and take the lead. Then the pen did a great job of just handing it off to one another. That’s a really good one right there.”
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Cody Bellinger created some breathing room late with a two-run double in the seventh — his second double of the night, this one coming left-on-left after the Rangers had intentionally walked Aaron Judge to load the bases with two outs — and Paul Goldschmidt, starting for the injured Ben Rice, added a solo shot in the eighth.
“It’s a really special group and up and down the lineup, there’s no breaks,” Bednar said.
McMahon and Chisholm had been two of the coldest Yankees hitters through the first few weeks of the season, but both have begun to heat up to give the lineup even more depth.
McMahon, who went 2-for-4, tied the game in the second inning after an eight-pitch battle with deGrom ended in his third home run of the season. He is now batting .304 (14-for-46) with an .877 OPS over his last 17 games after hitting .119 (5-for-42) with a .379 OPS through his first 17 games.
Chisholm, who put the Yankees ahead 4-3 with a 413-foot shot in the sixth — flush with a bat flip that went nearly as far — has taken off after starting the season without a homer in his first 23 games, batting .173 with a .498 OPS through April 22.
In 12 games since then, he has hit 13-for-45 (.289) with a .908 OPS and four home runs.
“It’s something we talked about in spring — it can’t just be one or two guys,” Goldschmidt said. “It can’t just be one way we beat teams. We got to be able to do it in all different ways, and we’ve done a good job so far. But there’s a long way to go, too.”
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