68-71 - Minor takes it easy on Labor Day as Rangers beat Yankees 7-0

Mike Minor had a contract he wanted to honor with the Texas Rangers, didn’t really want to go anywhere else, or, at worst, just wanted trade talks to be over with so he could just go out and do his job.

Today, after getting a reprieve from a brutal day game in Arlington on Sunday, and after a rain delay of nearly three hours, Minor finally got to go out there on this Labor Day afternoon and show the Yankees what they could have had for their postseason run by mowing through the vaunted New Yorkers with 7 ¹⁄₃ shutout innings on 110 pitches.

Baseball’s bWAR leading pitcher Minor allowed just five hits and a walk while striking out five Yankees on his way to his 12th win of the season. It’s only his 12th win because Minor has that top-of-the-rotation starter curse where his team doesn’t score very many runs for him.

Today, however, the Rangers put seven runs on the board in support of Minor. Those seven runs are the second most runs the Rangers have scored in a Minor start on the road this year. The big blow for Texas came when Delino DeShields bopped a two-out, three run dong in the top of the eighth to turn an otherwise close game into a laugher.

Shawn Kelley relieved Minor and got him out of a two on, one out jam to preserve the shutout and then Emmanuel Clase slammed the door in the ninth as Texas completed a feat that no team had accomplished against the Yankees in their last 220 contests. The last time the Yankees didn’t score in a game prior to today came back on June 30 of last season.

Anyhow, Wednesday’s finale from the Bronx currently has no starter listed for the Yankees. I bet you they wish it were Mike Minor.

Player of the Game: It’s obviously Minor but it should be noted that Jose Trevino, not Jeff Mathis — who caught all but one game started by Minor previously this season, shepherded Minor through this impressive start and then hit a solo home run at Yankee Stadium to boot. Of the successful call ups in this second half of the season, Trevino can definitely be counted among them.

Up Next: The Rangers and Yankees reconvene for the second game of this series as RHP Ariel Jurado will make the start for Texas against LHP James Paxton for New York. Tuesday’s first pitch from Yankee Stadium is scheduled for 5:35 pm CT.