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Teixeira, Cano help Yanks down Rangers

Apr 17, 2011 - 12:47 AM Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano both hit a two- run homer to back six shutout innings from Freddy Garcia and help the Yankees beat the Rangers, 5-2.

Garcia (1-0), who signed a minor league contract in the offseason, made his first start for the Yankees and limited Texas to two hits and a walk.

Teixeira went 2-for-3 and finished with three RBI overall for the Yankees, who dropped the opener of this three-game set -- a rematch of the 2010 ALCS -- on Friday.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez left the game after the sixth inning with low back and oblique stiffness.

"I actually just felt it more on my swings," Rodriguez said. "I was just kind of swinging weakly today, trying to protect it a little bit. Hopefully tomorrow it will get a little better."

Derek Holland (2-1) took the loss after allowing all five Yankees runs on eight hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings. David Murphy had two hits for Texas, which has dropped three of four.

Teixeira gave Garcia a cushion in the first inning. Following Nick Swisher's one-out single, Teixeira worked a 3-2 count before blasting a down-and-outside fastball the opposite way and over the right-field wall.

"I felt everything went the way that I wanted it to, but there were a couple of pitches that got away," Holland said. "Nobody makes 100 perfect pitches. You have to tip your hat to them, they took care of the mistakes."

The Yankees rallied again in the third, which Derek Jeter opened with a walk. Swisher doubled to left to put runners in scoring position, and Teixeira's sacrifice fly to center made it a 3-0 game.

However, Holland worked out of the inning from there, and the score remained the same through the middle innings.

Joba Chamberlain replaced Garcia in the seventh and tossed a scoreless inning, and Rafael Soriano took the mound for the Yankees in the eighth.

But the right-hander got into trouble by allowing a leadoff ground-rule double to Mitch Moreland, who moved to third on a groundout. Soriano walked Ian Kinsler before Elvis Andrus and Michael Young smacked consecutive RBI singles, pulling the Rangers within a run.

However, Cano got the runs back with his two-run blast in the bottom half, and Mariano Rivera worked the ninth to record his sixth save.

Game Notes

Garcia is undefeated in his last six starts vs. the Rangers. Texas has not handed him a defeat since April 24, 2004, when he pitched for Seattle...Holland is 0-3 in four games (three starts) vs. New York...Andruw Jones had two hits for the Yankees.