He didn’t stop until he stole third and scored on Michael Young’s hit off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning to give the Rangers their second straight win over the New York Yankees, 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Tonight the Rangers will shoot for the series sweep and their fifth win in six games.
Kinsler led off the ninth with a double down the left-field line off Rivera and then stole third base, his third steal of the game.
“I didn’t want to lose this game so I had to make it,” Kinsler said.
Young hit a hard grounder through a drawn-in infield to score Kinsler for the Rangers’ first run off Yankees relievers in four-plus innings.
“It’s just taking advantage of what we can do,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “It worked out perfect for us, Michael putting the ball in play. Good things happen when you put the ball in play.”
Rivera (2-3) started the ninth after Dan Giese, Dave Robertson and Jose Veres held Texas to one hit in four innings in relief of Joba Chamberlain. Rivera still has not allowed a run in a save situation this season. All four runs he has allowed have come in games that were tied.
“It doesn’t mean more,” Kinsler said of beating Rivera. “It’s just tougher to do, to squeeze out that run in the ninth is big.”
Losers of three straight games, the Yankees have had trouble scoring runs recently. They have scored seven runs in the past four games after a 9-0 win over the Mets in a second game of a doubleheader last Friday.
“It stinks,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “You’re looking for consistency. It’s not an offense that should struggle.”
Frank Francisco (2-2) pitched the eighth for the win. C.J. Wilson walked the leadoff batter in the ninth but got three outs for his 19th save in 21 chances. Derek Jeter, who got the night off, was in the on-deck circle when Wilson got the final out.
Sidney Ponson, in his second stint with New York, will face his former team in the series finale today. Ponson was waived by Texas on June 16 because was “his philosophy didn’t gel with ours,” Washington said Tuesday.
Chamberlain struggled with his control in his sixth start. After throwing 114 pitches in 6 2/3 innings to earn his first win as a starter in Pittsburgh, he needed 91 pitches just to get through four innings Tuesday.
Chamberlain said he struggled with his mechanics.
“I wasn’t finishing in the beginning. I felt better later,” he said. “Not going to be perfect every time.”
Walks to the first two batters in the second led to two runs for Texas, but it could have been much worse. The Rangers had two runners thrown out trying to advance to third on consecutive RBI hits by Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia that gave Texas a 2-0 lead.
Chamberlain had his most electrifying moment when he struck out Kinsler with a 99-mph fastball to end the inning with a runner on first.
Chamberlain allowed two runs and five hits in four innings. He walked four batters and struck out six.
Rangers starter Kevin Millwood was removed after allowing a run and five hits in five innings. He took a grounder off his right shin in the second inning and it got progressively worse.
X-rays were negative and Washington doesn’t think Millwood will miss a start. Millwood struck out six but was hurt by his one walk in the fourth.
After Jason Giambi walked with one out, Jorge Posada singled off the wall in right, sending Giambi to third. Robinson Cano followed with his eighth hit in 41 at-bats with runners in scoring position and less than two outs to make it 2-1.
The Yankees, who were held scoreless in 3 1/3 innings by the Ranger bullpen on Monday, tied it off Josh Rupe in the sixth inning.
Wilson Betemit, Jeter’s fill-in, had a two-out RBI single that tied it 2. The Yankees used three hits with two outs to score the tying run.
