ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cinderella Men took a glass slipper to the chin.
For seven innings, the Texas Rangers played the part of baseball’s warm and cuddly story. Owner Nolan Ryan threw out the first pitch at roughly 80 mph. The sellout crowd waved towels and lost its collective voice. The Rangers raced out to a five-run lead.
Then Friday night’s happily ever after became an unmitigated disaster. The Yankees, showing why they own the belt, bulldozed five Rangers pitchers for five eighth-inning runs in an unlikely 6-5 victory in the American League Championship Series opener.
“Those were the guys that we wanted in there. It just didn’t happen. We just didn’t execute,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “Gave it away, no? But it was ours with six outs to go. We didn’t get it done.”
The Rangers finally won a playoff series for the first time ever this week. But they still haven’t won a home game this postseason. Not after Marcus Thames’ single plated Alex Rodriguez with the go-ahead run.
“I am never really surprised — thrilled, but never surprised — at what these guys do,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
It was hard to overstate the jarring nature of this loss on a night when everything was seemingly going right for Texas. The Rangers belted Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who looked like he needed WD-40 after nine days off between starts. Seven of his first eight pitches were balls.
Sabathia needed 36 to retire the Rangers in their initial at-bat. But not before they scored three runs on a Josh Hamilton 362-foot laser into the right-field seats.
Moments after the slider became a souvenir, red fireworks filled the sky and the theme from “The Natural” played throughout the stadium. The script was hard to read with the syrup dripping from it.
“I feel more comfortable up there because I figured out in my own head why I was swinging out of the zone and trying to do too much against Tampa Bay,” Hamilton said. “I had to trust myself and my teammates.”
Michael Young, the Rangers’ all-time hits leader, added a nice touch with a two-RBI double, increasing Texas’ advantage 5-0. It seemed larger with the way C.J. Wilson was pitching. He was everything that Sabathia was not — effective and efficient.
Wilson allowed a single run through seven innings. All the Cliff Lee Lite descriptions seemed apt. Then, just like that, Wilson became an afterthought, sabotaged by a bullpen that could not have performed worse if wearing Diamondbacks’ uniforms.
After Brett Gardner’s headfirst- sliding single and Derek Jeter’s run-scoring double, Darren Oliver, a former Rockie, was summoned. He walked consecutive hitters, loading the bases. A Rodriguez single shaved the deficit to 5-4.
Before the eighth, the Yankees’ top four hitters were 0-for-12. In the eighth, they collected two hits, two walks and three RBIs.
Robinson Cano tied the score on a sharp line drive to center field, setting up Thames’ at-bat. The Rangers were on their fifth pitcher, tying an ALCS record. If the Yankees are a team of memories, Thames is a man of moments. A castoff journeyman, he has delivered huge hits this season.
His single shoved the Yankees ahead and stunned the crowd into silence. Ian Kinsler created a flicker of hope in the eighth inning with a leadoff single, before he was inexplicably picked off by reliever Kerry Wood. Kinsler went on the right- hander’s first move, making him an easy out.
All that remained was the inevitable — baseball’s greatest postseason closer, Mariano Rivera, turning out the lights and pulling the drapes.
