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Rangers try for consecutive wins in finale with Yanks

May 8, 2011 - 2:46 PM (Sports Network) - The Texas Rangers shoot for back-to-back wins for the first time in several weeks today as they get set to close out a three-game series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington versus the vaunted New York Yankees.

Back on April 24 the Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals at home and that was the last time the club managed to put together consecutive wins. Since then Texas has posted a record of just 4-9, but thanks to a 7-5 victory in the middle game of the series yesterday the team is still within a game of first place in the American League West.

Michael Young opened the scoring for the hosts with a solo home run in the first inning and finished it off with an RBI single in the sixth as Texas recorded the much-needed victory. Young finished 4-for-4 for the Rangers, who won for just the third time in their last 10 games.

Julio Borbon drove in three Texas runs, Mitch Moreland collected three hits and scored twice and David Murphy contributed with a solo home run in the contest.

"We hit early and swung the bat and we're able to get things going early," noted Borbon. "We lost it, but we kept our head in the game and kept fighting cause we knew we we're going to put more runs on the board."

Rangers starter Derek Holland allowed four runs on four hits and walked five in three-plus innings. Arthur Rhodes recorded the final two outs in the sixth to earn the win, his first of the season.

Robinson Cano hit a three-run triple for New York, which has lost four of five yet is still percentage points ahead of Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East entering play on Sunday. Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira both logged a pair of hits for the visitors and Nick Swisher offset two strikeouts by coming up with his second home run of the season, a solo shot to lead off the top of the sixth.

"We're not getting a whole lot of hits on this trip," said New York manager Joe Girardi. "We had five runs tonight and most nights that's going to be enough to win, but tonight it wasn't."

Yankees starter Bartolo Colon was tagged for five runs on nine hits in a 4 1/3-inning start, but it was Boone Logan who was charged with the loss after he surrendered two runs in one inning of relief.

With Rangers right-hander Alexi Ogando, who is 3-0 with a 2.17 earned run average through six starts, scratched from today's start due to a blister on his right index finger, fellow righty Dave Bush will instead get his second start of the season.

Just one of Bush's four appearances this year was a start and he has posted a 1.46 earned run average over 12 1/3 innings without a decision. However, he does own 185 career starts, so getting the ball at the start of this game will be nothing new to the 31-year-old.

Bush's lone start this year came on April 13, when he threw three scoreless innings versus the Tigers in a spot start. He is 2-1 with a 3.56 ERA in five career starts versus the Yankees.

Getting the nod for the Yankees this time around is CC Sabathia, who is aiming to go 70 games over .500 for his career with a victory today and has a mark of 8-3 with a 4.39 ERA all-time versus the Rangers.

The burly left-hander was on the mound on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers and was saddled with his second loss of the campaign as he permitted four runs on a season-high 10 hits and three walks, while striking out six over seven innings of work.

Jeter, who set a major league record for the most games played at shortstop for one team on Saturday as he took part in his 2,303rd game at the position to surpass Baltimore's Cal Ripken, is hitting .280 over the last week, which is considerably better than his mark of .256 for the season. However, the future Hall of Famer has just six RBI in 117 at-bats for the Yankees.

Texas, which is fourth in the AL in team batting at a .261 clip, has gotten a huge lift from Young over the last week as he has knocked in a total of seven and tallied a team-best nine hits during that span.

In news off the field on Saturday, Texas placed outfielder Nelson Cruz on the 15-day DL with a strained right quadriceps muscle and recalled outfielder Craig Gentry from Triple-A Round Rock. Cruz, who is tied for the team lead in home runs with seven, appeared in just three games over the last week and was hitless in 12 at-bats.

New York won two of three from the Rangers in the Bronx earlier this season but has now dropped five of the last seven meetings played in the Lone Star State.