ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mark Teixeira picked a great time to end his postseason RBI slump.
Just when nothing was going right for his team with runners in scoring position, Teixeira stepped to the plate in the seventh inning last night and smashed a three-run double that thrust the Yankees right back into Game 5 of the ALCS — which ended with a 7-6 loss to the Angels.
You could see this Yankees rally coming, with Angels ace John Lackey running on fumes and fortunate to have retired Johnny Damon for the second out with the bases loaded.
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Exit Lackey and enter lefty Darren Oliver, a move manager Mike Scioscia presumably made to force Teixeira to hit right-handed and take aim at the deeper part of Angel Stadium.
But Teixeira crushed Oliver’s first pitch to the gap in left-center, clearing the bases. Before the inning ended, the Yanks were ahead 6-4.
“That’s a heavyweight bout tonight,” Teixeira said. “They got up early and we came back and they finished it off, and we’ve got to give them credit.”
The RBIs for Teixeira were his first since Game 2 of the ALDS, when his 11th-inning homer beat the Twins at the Stadium. His postseason batting average entering last night stood at a paltry .133.
Before Teixeira’s double against Oliver, the Yankees were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. They had entered the game 7-for-45 (.156) with runners in scoring position for the series, but had been saved largely by the home run.
“We’ve played real good baseball so far,” Teixeira said. “We could have won this game, but we didn’t. We’ll appreciate the great game we played tonight and just couldn’t finish it off, but going home ahead 3-2 is nice.”
Teixeira has made several big defensive plays in the series — and that had been a popular topic with manager Joe Girardi.
“His defense has been spectacular for us,” Girardi said before the game. “Whether it’s been diving plays and throwing home, turning double plays, over-the-shoulder catches on pop-ups, to me he’s played Gold Glove defense.”
But the Yankees also didn’t invest $180 million in Teixeira with the idea he’d merely be a vacuum cleaner. They got their money’s worth from his bat in the regular season and he’s connected for two big playoff hits.
For the moment, at least, the sellout crowd had to eat its thundersticks.