Yankees 7, Rangers 2
Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson belted solo home runs as the New York Yankees stayed alive in the American League Championship Series with a 7-2 victory in Game 5 Wednesday at Yankee Stadium
Granderson had three hits and two RBIs and Jorge Posada had a pair of hits and drove in a run as New York ended the Rangers' three-game winning streak and headed back to Texas trailing the best-of-7 series 3-2.
Yankees ace CC Sabathia (1-0) labored through six innings but kept the Rangers at bay after his teammates gave him a 5-0 cushion to work with after three innings.
Texas, which lost for the first time in six postseason road games, can wrap up the series at home Friday night when Colby Lewis opposes New York's Phil Hughes.
Sabathia was hardly dominant, giving up two runs on 11 hits, but he gritted it out by getting a pair of double plays and leaving the bases loaded in the sixth inning before turning the game over to the bullpen.
The Yankees jumped on Rangers starter C.J. Wilson (0-1) for three runs in the second and two in the third. Posada and Granderson had run-scoring singles in the second and Swisher and Cano ripped back-to-back homers in the third for a 5-0 lead.
Wilson was roughed up for six runs – five earned – on six hits in five innings, including Cano’s fourth homer of the series. He walked four and struck out two.