About Last Night: Yankees 7, Rangers 4

About Last Night: Yankees 7, Rangers 4

By Derek McAdam

May 6, 2026

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The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers in the first of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium, improving to 25-11 on the young season. Here’s a quick recap of last night’s game.

Quick Stats: W: Brent Headrick (2-0): 1.1 IP, 3 K

                     L: Jacob deGrom (2-2): 6.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

                     S: David Bednar (10): 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 K

HRs: NYY: Ryan McMahon (3), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (4), Paul Goldschmidt (2)  

With the victory, the Yankees have won 15 of their last 17 games.

The Big Story: The Yankees just took two out of three games in Texas last week, so these teams are still fresh in each other’s minds just a week later. And both deGrom and Rodriguez pitched in last week’s series, although these two did not face off against each other.

And similarly to last week, it was a rough start for Rodriguez, although last night’s 1st inning was one that did not go to plan at all. Rodriguez walked the first two batters of the game and gave up a single to Josh Jung, loading the bases with no outs. Joc Pederson hit a sacrifice fly to score Evan Carter and give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Ezequiel Duran then hit an RBI single into right field to score Corey Seager and extend the lead to 2-0. With the bases loaded, Jung scored on a wild pitch that got past Austin Wells to give the Rangers a very quick 3-0 lead before the inning was complete.

In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees were able to quickly respond with a run of their own. Aaron Judge hit a double into right field to bring up Cody Bellinger, who missed a home run by inches, but was able to secure an RBI double and give the Yankees a run back to make the new score 3-1 Rangers.

To lead off the bottom of the 2nd, Goldschmidt slapped a single into left-center field. Wells advanced Goldschmidt to second, bringing up McMahon, who sent a 2-2 breaking ball into the right field seats to tie the game at 3-3.

After a turbulent 1st inning, Rodriguez settled down and gave the Yankees several straight innings of scoreless baseball. His off-speed pitches were beginning to fool the Rangers’ hitters and it definitely gave him more confidence as the start went along.

But in the 5th, Rodriguez worked himself into a bases-loaded jam with two outs, ending his evening after 94 pitches. Headrick then came in to work out of the jam, striking out Sam Haggerty and giving Rodriguez a no-decision.

deGrom also settled into a groove after giving up a home run to McMahon, until he gave up a solo home run to Chisholm with two outs in the 6th, ultimately giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Tim Hill came on in the 7th and recorded a quick out, but then gave up back-to-back singles to put the go-ahead runner on first base. Fernando Cruz then came in and struck out Duran for the second out and got Jake Burger to pop up, ending the inning and keeping the Yankees’ lead at 4-3.

The Yankees presented themselves with a prime opportunity with bases loaded in the 7th with two outs for Bellinger, who ripped a two-run double down the right field line to give the Yankees a 6-3 lead.

Cruz came on in the 8th and loaded the bases with one out, bringing on David Bednar to attempt a five-out save for the Yankees. Bednar struck out Seager and got Jung to pop out to Chisholm, allowing no runs to cross the plate and keep the lead at 6-3.

In the bottom of the inning, Goldschmidt hit a home run into the first row of seats in right-center field, giving the Yankees a 7-3 lead and providing a little extra cushion for Bednar, who would come out to pitch the 9th despite it no longer being a save situation.

Duran hit a triple with one out and scored on an RBI groundout from Burger to give the Yankees a three-run lead with two outs. But Bednar was able to secure the final out and give the Yankees their 25th victory of the season.

Player of the Game: Cody Bellinger gave the Yankees two big hits, one in the 1st and one in the 7th. Neither one gave the Yankees the lead or tied the game, but it changed the dynamic of how the rest of the game was going to go.

Notable Performances: The Yankee bullpen did a phenomenal job holding the Rangers to just one run in their five-plus innings of work. Jung had a three-hit night for the Rangers and Goldschmidt also strung together a couple of big hits for the Yankees.

Better to Forget: Trent Grisham did not seem to do much at the plate as the leadoff hitter statistically, but he did work deGrom a couple of times. I wouldn’t look too much into this.

My Take: These two teams just faced off against each other last week and were probably not looking forward to seeing one another again. Well, maybe the Rangers weren’t. Similarly to last Tuesday’s game, it was a starting matchup of older vs. newer: deGrom was taking the mound again, expect this time it was against Rodriguez, making just his second MLB start, both of which have come against the Rangers.

And while Rodriguez struggled in the 1st inning, I was feeling mostly disappointment with the slightest bit of optimism. The disappointment stemmed from Rodriguez’s poor inning, the way the Yankees have been hitting recently gave me hope against deGrom. And Joe Girardi saying in the YES Network booth that hitters have the advantage of seeing a pitcher within a short time period gave me even more hope for a victory. Soon after, the Yankee offense went to work and was able to push  six runs across deGrom.

That is the biggest difference between this team now and whenever they will go into an offensive slump. If they’re in a slump, a 3-0 deficit in the 1st means game over. They may be able to get one run back, but there won’t be many more after that. When they’re hot, a six-run deficit seems like a lot, but doesn’t seem impossible to overcome.

Rodriguez settled down after the rough 1st inning. The off-speed pitches were beginning to work against the Texas offense and his control was getting better. I felt as if it was an improvement from his first start, but there are still some control issues that need to be worked out.

And while deGrom pitched one very solid game against the Yankees and one decent game, both of his losses have come against the Yankees this season. Not bad for the Yankees, considering deGrom will be in the Hall of Fame.

Offensively, Bellinger continues to swing a hot bat at the plate. When the Rangers intentionally walked Judge in the 7th to load the bases for Bellinger, it was the perfect opportunity to show Texas why that was a bad decision, and Bellinger made them pay. Ben Rice has had much success at the plate this season hitting in front of Judge. A while that is important, it is just as important to have someone hitting well behind Judge so they can’t simply walk him and face the next batter.

The Yankees are playing great baseball right now, and the hot streak will eventually come to an end. But they need to take advantage of this stretch and win as many games as possible. They will eventually go through a cold streak or two and should attempt to create as much of a lead in the AL East as they can. Hopefully, they can pick up the series victory tonight and go for the sweep tomorrow before they hit the road.

What’s Next?: The Yankees will be back in action tonight against the Rangers for the second game of the series. Nathan Eovaldi is scheduled to start for the Rangers, while Will Warren is slated to take the mound for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.