The New York Yankees have gotten off to a tough start since the All-Star break and after losing to the Boston Red Sox in extra innings on Sunday night, they were shut out by the Texas Rangers on Monday and now the two teams will go at it again on Tuesday night from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The Yankees have been able to hang around in the American League East despite dealing with a range of injuries to star players, including Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson and after the news came out about Ryan Braun's suspension, the team knows that one for A-Rod is likely coming down very soon as well. The Yankees have been solid for most of the season, but the biggest issue has been offense and now word has come out that the team is looking to trade for Alfonso Soriano from the Chicago Cubs.
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The news about A-Rod and Soriano are even more relevant in this series with Texas, as the Rangers traded away Rodriguez and got Soriano and now the Yankees may have both players on the roster years after making the move. On Tuesday Phil Hughes will be on the mound for the Yankees and he will face off against Alexi Ogando as the Rangers try to make up ground in the AL West, where the Oakland Athletics have been in first place for most of the season. Texas is 55-44 this season and they just made a big move of their own by trading for pitcher Matt Garza from the Cubs after dealing with injuries to the starting rotation.
The start on Monday night from Yu Darvish was encouraging for the team as the rotation ERA has been rising month to month all year and now with Garza in the fold, Jon Daniels and the Rangers hope their pitching issues are behind the, The team has been pitching better of late and that was evident on Monday, as the Yankees entered the series after mashing with 12 runs and 25 hits over their last two games against Boston, but clearly all that ended with the shutout.
Ogando has been solid for the Rangers while going 4-2 with a sub-3.00 ERA this season, while Hughes has been knocked around a bit over his last few starts, as he is 4-9 with a 4.57 ERA this year. He has lost five of six starts and he has been tasked with trying to pitch shutouts, as the Yankees have been awful at giving him run support all season.
Click here for the MLB stream for the game between the New York Yanks and the Texas Rangers.
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