Rangers Jump on Joba Early in Yanks Loss

Joba Chamberlain gave up three runs in just four innings as the New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers 7-3 Tuesday night.
       
The start of the game was held up 2 hours, 24 minutes because of rain. Due to the delay, the Yankees knew that Boston had lost, which meant a win would've tied them with the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.
       
But Chamberlain gave up two runs in the first inning, then allowed Davis' first homer leading off the fourth. Although New York tied it at 3 in the top of the sixth, Jarrod Saltalamacchia restored Texas' lead with a looping single in the bottom of the inning. Davis added an upper-deck homer in the eighth.

Chamberlain threw a lot of pitches in the first inning and wound up going only four. He allowed three runs and four hits, with four walks and five strikeouts.
       
“Plain and simple, I was terrible,” he said. “I've got to do a better job of keeping the team in the game.”

The Yankees, who'd won 11 of 13, had a lot going for them -- 13 hits, a season-high five stolen bases, plus more freebies via a wild pitch and a passed ball.
       
But they failed to take advantage, such as hitting into double plays to end the seventh and eighth innings.

“I thought we swung the bats pretty well but we couldn't get the big hit,” manager Joe Girardi said.

Mark Teixeira homered for New York, and center fielder Melky Cabrera left with a shoulder injury.

The first pitch was delayed because of an approaching storm that didn't arrive until nearly an hour later. Once it did, it dropped buckets of rain and enough golf ball-sized hail to make the outfield look like a crowded driving range.

Cabrera ran hard into the wall chasing Ian Kinsler's leadoff triple in the first inning and left with a strained right shoulder. His replacement, Brett Gardner, had three hits and scored a run. He also had three of the steals against Saltalamacchia, who'd thrown out eight of 20 this season.