Yankees beat Texas, stay alive in AL Series
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By Larry Fine
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees stayed alive in the American League Championship Series by beating the Texas Rangers 7-2 on Wednesday to move within 3-2 in the best-of-seven showdown.
The Yankees, outscored 25-5 in the previous three games by the underdog Rangers and facing elimination, scored three runs in the second inning and two more in the third on back-to-back homers by Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano to take charge.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Starter CC Sabathia gave a gutsy performance as the Rangers knocked him around for 11 hits in six innings but registered only two runs, with the left-hander stranding baserunners in scoring position in every inning he pitched after the first.
New York's victory sent the series, which determines the American League team in the World Series, back to Texas for Game Six Friday.
BP MOOD
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Manager Joe Girardi said he saw something in the eyes of his players that told him Game Five would be different.
"There was a determination," Girardi told reporters. "We have not played extremely well in this series. There was a determination that we were going to go out and play our game today. I saw it during BP (batting practice).
"The mood during BP was very businesslike, and we knew what we had to do."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Yankees, their backs to the wall, asserted themselves early against Texas starter C.J. Wilson, who helped New York's cause by issuing a pair of four-pitch walks to Alex Rodriguez and Lance Berkman to put two on with one out in the second.
Jorge Posada singled to left and Rodriguez, breaking on the crack of the bat, raced around third and barely beat the throw home to give the Yankees the first run of the game.
Curtis Granderson followed with a sharp single to right-center that scored Berkman.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Yankee Stadium crowd of 50,000 had more to cheer about in the third inning when Swisher led off with a homer to left and Cano made it back-to-back blasts by hitting one into the right-field seats for a 5-0 lead.
Sabathia induced a pair of double plays to help him get out of jams, giving up just a solo home run to Matt Treanor in the fifth until facing his most serious threat in the sixth, when Texas loaded the bases with one out and Treanor coming to bat.
Sabathia got Treanor to ground out to third baseman Rodriguez as David Murphy scored. With men on second and third he froze Mitch Moreland on a 2-2 cutter over the inside corner for a called third strike and left to a standing ovation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Granderson lined a home run just over the fence in right in the eighth to give the Yankees their last run. Kerry Wood pitched two innings in relief of Sabathia and Mariano Rivera got the last three outs in the ninth to end it.
"We had Sabathia bending, he didn't break," said Texas manager Ron Washington, whose team outhit the Yanks 13-9. "We battled all day."
Washington said he had not expected closing out the series to be easy. "Those guys over there are champs," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You're never comfortable because you never know what's going to happen day to day. We'll go out and give it our best and at the end of nine hope we have more runs than they have."
(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)