NEW YORK -- When you hear 95.5 mph strike, you usually think it's coming off the mound, right? Well, think again, because Rangers rookie Adolis García's mind-bending throw was exactly that ... except it came from right field and cut down the tying run at home plate.
The Yankees would ultimately win, 7-3, to complete the sweep over the Rangers, but García's cannon held New York off for an inning longer.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning on Wednesday night, Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu lofted a fly ball to right field that García corralled. Kyle Higashioka tagged up and took off for home, but García had other ideas, unleashing a throw so ferocious that it caused him to fall down on the follow through.
The cannon toss reached Rangers catcher Jose Trevino on a fly and in plenty of time to slap the tag on Higashioka. García deservedly celebrated the double play, slapping himself on the chest as he ran in from right field.
“That was huge,” said Rangers starter Taylor Hearn, who was on the mound for the play. “DJ LeMahieu is definitely not an easy hitter to get out. I definitely was trying to come after him and try to make him put the ball in play somehow and try to get in there. That throw from Adolis, man, that was huge. I think that was probably one of the best throws I’ve been in a game for and have seen.”
García's throw was the third hardest by a Rangers outfielder this season, behind two 97-plus-mph throws from Joey Gallo.
It was García's 14th outfield assist of the season, good for the second most in MLB, behind Boston’s Hunter Renfroe (16).
The AL Rookie of the Year candidate has been brilliant for the Rangers, especially after the club dealt Gold Glover Gallo to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline.
“That’s just Adolis,” manager Chris Woodward said. “He's obviously done that for us all year, either in center and right or occasionally left, but he's not scared of that. Anytime somebody challenges that arm, he always seems to put it right on the bag. And in that situation, it carried in the air. That was the only chance he had, basically, to throw that guy out. He's got a knack for making plays like that. He's been doing it all year.”
Though García's amazing assist held off the Yankees, it didn’t take long for them to come roaring back to tie the game.
The Rangers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead -- the first time they led the Yankees all series -- but miscues allowed New York to get back into the game.
Hearn shut out the Yankees for four innings and walked two consecutive batters in the bottom of the sixth before Woodward decided to end his outing. Another walk and a wild pitch by Dennis Santana would score the tying run.
New York blew the game open in the eighth inning, when reliever Spencer Patton gave up four two-out runs, including a two-run homer from Gary Sánchez. Woodward said he felt like the first hit of the inning, a two-out blooper by Gallo into shallow left field, was bad luck more than anything. The ensuing hits by Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela before Sánchez's home run were the final nails in the coffin.
“Patton's been one of our best guys all year,” Woodward said. “He continued to make pitches. It was just the one mistake to Sanchez, which, three batters in, probably should have ever happened. If he gets a little bit luckier, it’s different. But we make our own luck. There's a lot of little things that kind of added up to being in that spot where a little bit of bad luck puts us in a bind. It showed that we didn't do to give ourselves a chance to have a lead or a bigger lead going into that.”