Rangers cap lackluster season by edging Yanks

Glenn Otto pitched six strong innings against the team who drafted him, and the Texas Rangers ended a disappointing season with a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Wednesday afternoon in Arlington, Texas. Charlie Culberson and Jonah Heim hit solo homers off Domingo German (2-5) before Texas went ahead in the fifth. Bubba Thompson hit a tiebreaking RBI double, and Marcus Semien followed with a run-scoring single. Otto (7-10), whom the Yankees drafted in 2017 and then traded in July 2021 in the Joey Gallo deal, allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out five, walked two and won for the first time since Aug. 26. The Rangers (68-94) split the four-game series with the Yankees and went 17-31 under interim manager Tony Beasley. Beasley is a candidate for the permanent job, but Texas is expected to consider other options. The Yankees (99-63) rested Aaron Judge after he hit his 62nd homer Tuesday night to break the American League record previously held by Roger Maris in 1961. Judge missed out on the Triple Crown as the slugger finished with a .311 average. Kyle Higashioka hit an RBI single, and Jose Trevino homered for the Yankees, who open the playoffs at home next Tuesday in the AL Division Series against Cleveland or Tampa Bay. German, a candidate to be in the bullpen for the postseason, allowed four runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one. Yerry Rodriguez pitched the seventh in his major league debut and Dennis Santana pitched the eighth for Texas. Matt Moore worked the ninth for his fifth save. New York took a 1-0 lead on Higashioka's single to right in the second and the Rangers tied it in the third when Culberson lifted a 2-2 changeup to left for his second homer. Trevino gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead by homering to left on a 2-2 slider in the fourth, but Texas tied it in the bottom half when Heim homered to right. After Heim's 16th homer, Texas capitalized on shoddy defense to get the lead. Leody Taveras opened the fifth with a single and took second on a fielding error by Aaron Hicks. Taveras scored the tiebreaking run on Thompson's double that caromed off third baseman Josh Donaldson's glove, and Semien singled to right for a 4-2 lead. --Field Level Media