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Yanks' McCarthy takes mound against Rangers

Jul 29, 2014 - 2:03 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - If Brandon McCarthy can keep up his current pace on the mound, then the New York Yankees won't have to worry any further about bolstering their pitching rotation.

McCarthy makes his fourth start with the Yankees on Tuesday evening in the second contest of a three-game set with the Texas Rangers.

New York has been very active in the trade market this month as it continues to chase the American League East crown. The Yankees acquired McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks in early July, picked up third baseman Chase Headley from the San Diego Padres on July 22 and two days after that received starter Chris Capuano from the Colorado Rockies.

McCarthy and Capuano are helping fill a rotation without CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda due to injury.

The right-handed McCarthy has been a big boost, going 2-0 with a 1.45 earned run average. He has allowed just three earned runs in 18 2/3 innings in Pinstripes after going 3-10 with a 5.01 ERA in Arizona. However, he had given up just three runs over 12 2/3 frames in his final two outings with the Diamondbacks, both wins.

McCarthy won his second straight start on Thursday, besting Texas after allowing a run, four hits and two walks over six innings.

"They put up some long at-bats against him," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "But he just kept at it, kept throwing strikes. ... He just found a way to get through it."

The 31-year-old McCarthy moved to 3-5 with a 4.41 ERA in 13 games (11 starts) lifetime versus the Rangers, who he pitched with from 2007-09.

Nick Martinez will start for the Rangers, his second outing after missing three weeks due to discomfort on his left side.

The 23-year-old righty has not won since May 24 and was unable to snap a five- decision losing streak despite a solid outing last Tuesday versus the Yankees. Martinez yielded only three hits over 5 1/3 innings, but Texas lost 2-1 in extra innings.

Martinez set down 12 straight Yankees after surrendering a pair of opening- inning singles and didn't allow a runner past first base over his entire outing.

"I felt good," Martinez said. "(Robinson Chirinos) called a great game, so that made it easy for me."

Still, Martinez is just 1-6 with a 4.73 ERA in 17 games (12 starts) on the year and the rookie faces the Yankees for the second time.

Martinez will try to pitch the Rangers to a series victory after they claimed Monday's opener, 4-2. J.P. Arencibia hit a go-ahead two-run single as Texas scored all four of its runs in the fifth inning.

Yu Darvish struck out eight and allowed two runs on nine hits and a walk over seven innings for Texas, which had dropped eight of 10 games coming in.

"He never gave in, he just kept pitching. He didn't have command of his fastball tonight, so he went to his breaking pitches," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Darvish.

Derek Jeter had three hits for the Yankees and moved past Carl Yastrzemski for seventh place on the all-time hits list. Jeter, who shot a single through the hole on the right side to climb past Yastrzemski, has 3,420 hits in his illustrious career.

"We've really enjoyed the ride that Derek has been on this year," said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira. "It seems like every day or every week it seems like he's passing somebody on some list, which is really neat."

Brett Gardner hit a pair of solo homers to account for New York's runs.

David Phelps surrendered four runs on eight hits and a walk over six frames for the Yankees, who have lost three in a row on the heels of a 7-1 stretch.

The Yankees won three of four versus the Rangers last week.