After back-to-back walk-off wins in The Bronx, the Yankees couldn’t produce any late drama Monday against the Rangers.
In fact, they couldn’t even produce any runs in a 7-0 loss, the first time they were shut out since June 30 of last season by the Red Sox. The streak was MLB’s second longest since 1900, trailing only the 308-game stretch accomplished by the Yankees from 1931-33.
“It just [shows] how consistent they’ve been and how tough they are to get through,’’ Aaron Boone said of his lineup. “Eventually it was gonna fall.”
Texas left-hander Mike Minor was the main culprit, tossing 7 ¹/₃ scoreless innings and keeping the Yankees off balance with a deceptive fastball.
He outdueled Masahiro Tanaka, coming off seven shutout innings in a win in Seattle.
Tanaka had been solid in three of his previous four outings and that trend continued Monday, as he gave up just two runs over six innings.
Tanaka got into trouble quickly against the Rangers. He had runners on the corners with one out after singles by Elvis Andrus and Willie Calhoun. Nomar Mazara gave Texas a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Andrus.
The Yankees had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the inning when Gary Sanchez followed Gleyber Torres’ two-out walk with a double to left, but Mike Ford hit a comebacker to strand both runners.