Colby Lewis gets 11th win as Rangers beat Yankees 5-2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Colby Lewis went six innings for his 11th victory and the Texas Rangers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the AL East-leading New York Yankees on Wednesday night.

Adrian Beltre had two hits and scored twice for the Rangers, who won for only the second time in their last 14 home games.

After the Yankees scored two runs in the second, nine fewer than in the same inning the previous night in a 21-5 win, the Rangers went ahead to stay with three runs in the second off Masahiro Tanaka (7-4).

Beltre had a single to start the second, before Mitch Moreland walked and Josh Hamilton had the first of his two RBI singles in the game. Texas went ahead after run-scoring hits by Shin-Soo Choo and Delino DeShields.

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Lewis (11-4) struck out five while scattering seven hits and allowing two runs. He hit a batter but didn’t have a walk while winning his third consecutive start, though he hadn’t won at home since June 13.

Shawn Tolleson worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 18th save in 19 chances.

Tanaka had won his previous three starts, a stretch when the Japanese right-hander was the first Yankees pitcher since April 2013 to go at least seven innings in three consecutive victories. He struck out three and walked three, giving up four runs over six innings.

Beltre had another leadoff single in the fifth and came home when Hamilton grounded into a double play. While scoring a run, the play also ended the club record-matching nine consecutive games without a double play.

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Hamilton had another RBI single in the seventh, giving the 2010 AL MVP 10 RBIs in his 26 games back with the Rangers. That includes four games with multiple RBIs.

Carlos Beltran led off the Yankees second with his eighth homer of the season. There were three consecutive two-strike, two-out singles — including Jacoby Ellsbury’s for a 2-0 lead — before Brett Gardner’s inning-ending fly ball.

New York had won four straight, and eight of nine.

Caleb Cotham, the third Yankees pitcher, made his major league debut after being called up earlier Wednesday from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 27-year-old right-hander was the team’s fifth-round draft pick out of Vanderbilt in 2009.

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Cotham was the 47th player used this season by the Yankees, matching Tampa Bay for the second-most in the majors behind Atlanta’s 51. Texas has used 46 players.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira was out of the starting lineup, but manager Joe Girardi said it was a planned day off. Teixeira was hit on the foot by a pitch in Tuesday night’s game.

Rangers: LHP Derek Holland begins his rehab assignment Thursday for Triple-A Round Rock, when he is expected to go two innings or 35 pitches. Holland has been out since a shoulder issue only one inning into the home opener.

UP NEXT

Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda, who leads the AL with a 7.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio, goes for his 10th victory.

Rangers: RHP Yovani Gallardo (7-9, 3.19 ERA) is set to start the series finale, at a time when he is being mentioned as a possible target for some contending teams before Friday’s non-waiver trade deadline.