Rangers Vs. Yankees: Three Home Runs Help New York Win Game, Series

Closing out a three-game series and a rematch of last year's ALCS, the New York Yankees knocked off the Texas Rangers 6-5 Sunday night, thanks in large part to a trio of longballs.

Rangers starter Alexi Ogando came in having begun the season with 13 scoreless innings. However, the Yankees touched him up for six hits, five runs and three dingers, with Robinson Cano going deep in the second, Russell Martin going deep in the fifth, and Curtis Granderson going deep in the sixth.

For the Rangers' part, they made Yankees starter CC Sabathia work, as he needed 112 pitches to throw 6.1 innings. Sabathia allowed four runs of his own, with Adrian Beltre driving in each of them. When Michael Young subsequently doubled home Ian Kinsler off Joba Chamberlain in the seventh, we had a 5-5 game on our hands.

It remained that way into the bottom of the eighth, when Eric Chavez faced Arthur Rhodes and singled home Mark Teixeira for the go-ahead run. No further damage was done in the inning, but Mariano Rivera tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out for the Yankees. In so doing, Rivera picked up his seventh save.

The Yankees moved to 9-5, increasing their division lead, while the Rangers fell into a first-place tie with the Angels at 10-5. The Rangers and Angels will now face each other in a series in Texas, while the Yankees will visit the Blue Jays.