It was a special afternoon for Jorbit Vivas, who belted his first career home run with a swing that could not have come at a better moment.
Leading off the bottom of the fifth inning against All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, the rookie infielder broke a scoreless tie by clobbering a first-pitch fastball 360 feet into the right field seats.
In a game dominated by two of the league’s best pitchers, Vivas’ go-ahead homer gave the New York Yankees all they needed to secure a 1-0 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, completing a three-game sweep.
The solo shot was the lone mark in an elite duel between the two toughest pitchers to hit in the American League: Carlos Rodon and Eovaldi. The pair entered Thursday’s contest with the league’s lowest opponent batting averages – Rodon led with .167, while Eovaldi was right behind him at .179 – and they both lived up to their reputations.
The Yankee lefty served up six scoreless frames, allowing just two hits and a pair of walks with eight strikeouts. Meanwhile, Eovaldi provided six innings of one-run ball with five hits, a walk, and six strikeouts.
The Yankees had some early traffic on the basepaths, but it continued to stall. Paul Goldschmidt knocked a two-out single in the first inning that advanced Aaron Judge to second base, but Jasson Dominguez grounded out to halt the momentum.
The club challenged again in the second. With two away, Vivas trotted to first after a catcher’s interference, then coasted to third on an Oswald Peraza double. But as the order flipped over, Trent Grisham topped a splitter and grounded to second.
Rodon skirted some trouble of his own in the top of the third. After striking out eight and nine hitters, he surrendered a ground-rule double to Sam Haggerty and walked Wyatt Langford. But the left-hander didn’t break. Instead, he painted the inside corner with a beautiful slider and induced a groundout from Josh Jung to end the inning.
The hurlers then retired the next six batters they faced, each padding their respective strikeout totals. Eovaldi downed a pair in the bottom of the fourth, while Rodon struck out the side in the top of the fifth.
Rodon issued a one-out walk to Langford in the sixth, watching him advance all the way to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch. With two outs and the tying run just 90 feet away, Rodon pulled the string on Jake Burger to escape the inning with his eighth strikeout of the day.
Right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. took over for New York in the seventh. Marcus Semien led off the frame with a single and advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch. After putting away the next two batters, Leiter surrendered an infield single to pinch-hitter Joc Pederson, who swiped second to place runners on second and third. Facing another pinch-hitter in Josh Smith, Leiter fooled the lefty with a splitter in the dirt for an emphatic third out.
The one-two punch of Devin Williams and Luke Weaver retired the next six Rangers in order to preserve the lead to secure the victory.
Following the sweep, the Yankees (30-19) will take a four-game win streak on the road and kick off their west coast tour against the Colorado Rockies on Friday night (8:40 p.m. ET) at Coors Field.
