Yankees vs. Rangers ALCS is off to exciting start. Although it was the Texas Rangers starting Game 1 off with a bang, in the end it was the New York Yankees shocking the Texas home crowd and walking away with a 6-5 win and 1-0 series lead.

After trailing most of the game, the Yankees came from five runs down with the help of a five-run eighth to take the first game of the seven game series on the road in Arlington.

CC Sabathia got the start for the Yankees and struggled right off the bat. A leadoff walk to Elvis Andrus was followed by a Michael Young single for the Rangers in the bottom of the first. Josh Hamilton followed it up with a three run homerun to give the Rangers the early lead. If not for a lucky bounce and nice play following a passed ball with men on base, the Yankees might have been in an even deeper hole.

The Rangers added a pair of runs in the fourth inning, and Sabathia finished his start allowing five earned runs in just four innings of work.

Texas starter C.J. Wilson was in control for most of the game. He threw six scoreless innings before allowing a solo homerun to Robinson Cano in the seventh.

Things came unraveled for the Rangers in the eighth. Wilson started the inning on the hill, and allowed an infield single to Brett Gardner and a double to Derek Jeter. Darren Oliver relieved Wilson, and walked both of the batters he faced, giving the Yankees bases loaded with no outs.

Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Marcus Thames then proceeded to hit back-to-back-to-back singles off three separate Rangers pitchers to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

The Rangers seemed to be off to a good start in the bottom of the eighth when Ian Kinsler drew a leadoff walk, but he was caught napping on first base and picked off by Kerry Wood.

After escaping the top of the ninth without allowing a run despite a leadoff double to Derek Jeter, the Rangers had one more chance to regain the lead off of Mariano Rivera.

Pinch hitter Mitch Moreland led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, and was quickly bunted over to second base by Elvis Andrus. The Rangers were then silenced by Rivera, who struck out Michael Young and got Josh Hamilton to hit a weak groundball to third to preserve the win.

The Yankees get a dramatic road win to open the series despite a less than stellar performance from Sabathia, which was almost needed knowing that Cliff Lee will be pitching the first game after the series shifts to New York.

Game Two will be Monday night with Phil Hughes (1-0, 0.00 this postseason) facing off against Texas’ Colby Lewis (0-0, 0.00 in one start this postseason).

Used with permission of the author.

Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

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