ARLINGTON, Texas — Despite the Yankees punishing the Rangers yesterday, manager Joe Girardi felt a need to remind his team to tighten it up defensively.
“We didn’t play well early. I told them we have to stop making it harder on ourselves,” Girardi said after his club made four errors in a 12-5 victory and has nine errors in the last four games. “We are capable of playing better.”
Alex Rodriguez and Brett Gardner made errors in the first. Sabathia was charged with fielding errors in the fifth and sixth.
PHOTOS: YANKEES ROUT RANGERS, 12-5
In addition, Julio Borbon went from first to second on a fly to Gardner in medium left and Rodriguez was confused about where to throw — home or first — on Adrian Beltre’s grounder in the seventh that went for a single.
“(Horse spit) throw,” Rodriguez said of his errant toss on Ian Kinsler’s leadoff grounder in the first.
Girardi places a high premium on defense and nine boots in four games is alarming.
“We are a much better defensive team than we have been this week,” Girardi said. “I addressed that and our club knows that.”
It was the first Yankees win with four or more errors since April 14, 2007, when they beat the A’s in Oakland in 13 innings. The last nine-inning win with four or more errors was July 17, 2006, against Seattle.
**Francisco Cervelli‘s grand slam in the eighth inning sealed the win and put an ear-to-ear smile on his face.
“I am so happy for my Mom and the team, too,” Cervelli said of the Mother’s Day slam. “I wish she was here [in Texas] with me.”
Cervelli said he didn’t know the bases were loaded until he got to the dugout. Yet he knew the ball was going to clear the center-field fence. That’s why he high-stepped it early in his trot.
“I tried to hit the ball hard all day,” said Cervelli, who went 1-for-5.
Cervelli said his last grand slam was in 2007 when he was with Tampa (Single-A).
**In addition to hitting his first two homers of the year, Derek Jeter swiped his first base.
Jeter has played 2,304 games at short, which is the most by a player for one team. Three others have played more games at short in MLB history. They are Omar Vizquel (2,692), Luis Aparicio (2,583) and Ozzie Smith (2,511).
**Jorge Posada stopped an 0-for-15 skid with an eighth-inning ground single to right.
**Rodriguez drove in a run with a fifth-inning ground out. That stopped an eight-game stretch without an RBI. That was his longest period of time without an RBI since May 9-18, 2007.
**Since today is dark on the schedule, Girardi could have used Russell Martin with Sabathia yesterday. Yet Girardi chose to go with Cervelli after Martin caught Saturday night.
“This way Russell gets two days [off],” Girardi said.
Martin, who went 0-for-4 and hit into two double plays Friday night, has two hits in 16 at-bats (.125).
Today is the first day in 16 the Yankees don’t play, after playing 16 games across the first 23 days of the season. They are in the middle of a 31-game stretch in 32 days.
**Right-handed reliever Luis Ayala worked two scoreless innings yesterday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A). The Yankees will decide if Ayala will come off the DL, where he has been since April 13 with a strained right shoulder.
If the Yankees activate him, Lance Pendleton is the likely pitcher to be sent out.