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Yankees 5, Rangers 2: Freddy Garcia Wins With Strong First Start

New York Yankees fans should hope young right-handers Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes were paying close attention to the masterful work done by veteran Freddy Garcia Saturday. In his first start of the season Garcia (1-0) pitched six shutout innings to lead the Yankees to a 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Garcia, signed to a minor-league contract in the off-season, allowed just two hits and one walk during his six innings. According to PitchFX data, Garcia's fastball topped out at just 87.5 miles per hour. He masterfully used a changeup, curveball, slider and splitter -- all of varying speeds and breaks -- to keep Texas hitters guessing.

Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano each hit two- run homers to back Garcia's pitching. Teixeira went two-for-three with three RBI for the Yankees.

The Yankees led 3-0 after seven innings, but Texas scored twice off Yankee reliever Rafael Soriano in the eighth inning to move with 3-2. Cano's two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth pushed the margin back to three runs. Mariano Rivera finished for his sixth save of the season.


Final - 4.16.2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Texas Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 7 1
New York Yankees 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 X 5 8 0
WP: Freddy Garcia (1 - 0)
SV: Mariano Rivera (6)
LP: Derek Holland (2 - 1)

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