ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas Rangers were celebrating and heading to their first World Series when the New York Yankees left town last October.
This time, the defending American League champions are trying to figure out how to get things back on track after a 12-5 loss Sunday.
Since winning nine of their first 10 games this season, the Rangers (18-17) have lost seven of their last eight series. They dropped two of three games against New York, which overcame an early 4-0 deficit in the finale.
"We're in a little grind right now, but we have to keep battling and get out there and make a change," said first baseman Mike Napoli, a Texas newcomer this season. "We come out to win every series. We're not playing good ball right now. We know it. We need to get out there and have good energy and make plays."
Derek Jeter homered twice after going 62 games without a long ball and finished with four hits for the Yankees. He had gone 259 at-bats without a homer since last Aug. 24 before leading off the fifth with a liner that barely cleared the 8-foot wall and landed in the Rangers' bullpen in right-center.
The captain didn't wait long for his next homer, leading off the seventh against Arthur Rhodes (1-2) with a deeper shot into the bullpen to break a 4-all tie.
"He looked like the old Derek Jeter," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He swung the bat well. So did Granderson."
Curtis Granderson, who homered twice in Friday's 4-1 victory, followed Jeter's second homer with his AL-leading 11th of the season.
Francisco Cervelli hit a grand slam and Mark Teixeira added two-run shot in the eighth, a six-run outburst off rookie Cody Eppley that began with an umpire's apparent missed call.
The Yankees led just 6-5 when Nick Swisher started the eighth with a grounder to Napoli, who slid his foot toward the side of the bag. But first base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled that Napoli never touched the bag. Napoli threw his hands up in disbelief and Washington came out for a heated argument.
Television replays appeared to show that Napoli touched the bag, and before Swisher got there.
"I thought I nicked the bag," Napoli said. "You guys saw it. They hit the ball and they scored a lot of runs. I don't know what to say about it. It just kind of spun downhill for us."
Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner followed with singles before Cervelli's first career slam, and first homer in the majors since June 24, 2009. Teixeira later added his ninth homer of the season.
Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba led off the bottom of the eighth with a flyout. He was ejected from the game after he said something to Fletcher on his way back to the dugout after the ball was caught.
"I don't want to talk about it," Torrealba said. "Obviously, you know what happened, so I don't want to talk about it."
CC Sabathia (3-2) pitched into the seventh with a season-low two strikeouts while matching a season high with four walks, all of those in the first four innings. The big left-hander gave up five runs, three earned, and five hits while also committing two fielding errors.
The Yankees cut their deficit to 4-2 when Jeter and Granderson had consecutive RBI singles in the third off spot starter Dave Bush, who was gone after Jeter's homer in the fifth.
Granderson greeted rookie reliever Ryan Tucker with a single off the right-field wall and later scored the tying run on a groundout by Alex Rodriguez.
Sabathia walked three of the first eight batters he faced, though Texas got started when leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler reached on a throwing error by Rodriguez. The third baseman made a nice stop near the line, but his throw was well over the head of Teixeira at first base.
After consecutive one-out walks loaded the bases, Napoli hit a two-run single and David Murphy a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Craig Gentry, called up from Triple-A Round Rock when Nelson Cruz was put on the disabled list Saturday, had a leadoff walk in the second and a stolen base before scoring on a single by Elvis Andrus.
NOTES: Bush started in place of Alexi Ogando (3-0), who was skipped to give him time to relieve a blister on his pitching hand that has been a bother all season. ... Andrus led off the seventh with a single to chase Sabathia, then had a stolen base, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Adrian Beltre's infield chopper when Rodriguez bobbled the ball and then thought about throwing home before going to first late. ... All three games were sellouts at Rangers Ballpark, even with the Dallas Mavericks also playing about 20 miles away and winning twice this weekend against the Los Angeles Lakers to sweep that NBA playoff series.
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