Rangers Finish Season on High, Beat Yankees

Texas enters the offseason with many questions, but also a two-game winning streak to carry over into 2023.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers will enter the 2023 season with a winning streak.

The Rangers beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Wednesday, giving them two straight wins to wrap up a 68-94 season.

Now, the Rangers transition into the offseason, during which they must hire a new full-time manager and determine how to acquire more starting pitching, a goal that interim manager Tony Beasley acknowledged during a pregame interview with the media.

Rangers starter Glenn Otto (7-10) did bring some finality to his solid run to end the season. He threw six innings and gave up four hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out five before yielding to Yerry Rodriguez, who worked a scoreless seventh in his Major League debut. Dennis Santana worked a scoreless eighth and Matt Moore worked a scoreless ninth to preserve Otto’s win.

"Glenn competed much better down the stretch," Beasley said. "He accepted that he has to make hitters do something, trust his defense and avoid walks. He's tried his best to flip the switch."

Moore took the save, his fifth of the season and his second in as many games. Moore didn’t have a career save before the 2022 season began.

Rangers pitching held the Yankees to five hits. 

One of the runs Otto gave up was to his former teammate, Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, who hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth.

Otherwise, Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe went 1-for-1 with a walk and left the game early to preserve his first .300 season as a hitter, and the first for the Rangers in six years. He finished with a .302 batting average.

Texas fell behind by a run twice in the game, and tied the game twice on home runs, before taking the lead for good.

Charlie Culberson’s solo home run in the bottom of the third tied the game at 1-1. Culberson, who drew a rare start on Wednesday, may have played his last game for the Rangers after signing a one-year deal last offseason. The 33-year-old will be a free agent.

Rangers catcher Jonah Heim tied the game with a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, which made it 2-2. The ball carried so quickly that Yankees right fielder Marwin Gonzalez took one step back and realized the ball wasn’t playable.

Texas took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the fifth. Leody Taveras singled to center field, but a fielding error by the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks allowed Taveras to reach second. Bubba Thompson doubled home Taveras to break the 2-2 tie, and then second baseman Marcus Semien singled home Thompson to make it 4-2.

In the eighth, the Rangers nearly added to the lead on what would have been a Heim RBI single that scored Josh Jung. But the Yankees challenged the play and the run was overturned.

New York Yankees outfielder and designated hitter Aaron Judge did not start on Wednesday after hitting his 62nd home run on Tuesday night, setting a new American League record. Also out of the lineup was Giancarlo Stanton.

Rangers shortstop Corey Seager did not play. Beasley said Seager had been playing through some lingering health issues and decided not to play him. He did say Seager could have played if needed.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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