Rangers 4, Yankees 2
J.P. Arencibia drove in a pair of runs to back seven solid innings from Yu Darvish as host Texas won the opener of the three-game series.
Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus had RBI hits while Alex Rios singled twice to help the Rangers win for only the seventh time in 36 games. Darvish (10-6) struck out eight and allowed nine hits but minimized the damage to reach double digits in victories in each of his first three major-league seasons.
Brett Gardner belted a pair of solo homers - his first career game with two blasts - and Derek Jeter collected three hits to move into seventh place on the career list for New York, which suffered its third straight defeat. David Phelps (5-5) allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings to halt his eight-start unbeaten streak.
Gardner continued to torment Darvish with a two-out shot to right field in the third before lofting a breaking ball into the seats in center in the fifth to stake the Yankees to a 2-0 lead. Texas responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame, with all the scoring coming with two outs.
Andrus singled home a run and moved to third on a base hit by Rios before Beltre doubled in the tying run and, after Jim Adduci walked to load the bases, Arencibia lined a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch to plate two more for a 4-2 advantage. Neal Cotts worked around two hits in the eighth before Neftali Feliz tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Jeter's three hits gave him 3,420 for his career, surpassing Carl Yastrzemski for seventh on the all-time list. ... Arencibia, who was recalled from the minors after the All-Star break, has a team-high nine RBIs in the last 11 games. ... Gardner improved to 5-for-11 against Darvish and joined All-Stars Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels and Brandon Moss of the Oakland Athletics as the only players with four homers off the Japanese standout.