Cruz's second first-pitch homer beats Yanks in 13th

ARLINGTON, Texas - Nelson Cruz tortured the Yankees twice.

Once late Friday night and once early Saturday morning.

And each time on the first pitch of an inning.

Cruz sent the first pitch he saw from Chad Gaudin in the bottom of the 13th inning over the right-centerfield fence for his second first-pitch homer of the game, giving the Rangers a 6-5 victory over the Yankees at The Ballpark in Arlington.

Cruz's 19th homer ended a 5-hour, 12-minute marathon in which the teams combined to use 19 pitchers, setting an American League record for an extra-inning game.

"It's a tough loss," said manager Joe Girardi, whose team's lead over Tampa Bay was trimmed to 1½ games. "You play five hours, it's a tough loss. But we'll bounce back."

Cruz's home run on the first pitch thrown by Joba Chamberlain in the eighth tied the score at 5. The Yankees led 4-1 after 21/2 innings.

"Slider," Chamberlain said of the pitch Cruz hit off him in the eighth. "Not a very good one, obviously."

The Yankees left 18 runners on base and went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position. They left the bases loaded - for the third time - in the top of the 13th when Chad Moeller flied out to center on a 3-and-2 pitch from Scott Feldman (7-10). Earlier in that inning, they had runners on first and third with one out, but pinch hitter Jorge Posada lined to second before Curtis Granderson walked to bring Moeller to the plate.

The Yankees also had a man on third with one out in the 12th, but Derek Jeter grounded weakly to first and Colin Curtis struck out.

Jeter went 1-for-7 and now is in an 8-for-66 slump that has dropped his average to .260. He felt he was starting to make progress toward the end of the recent homestand, something that didn't continue Friday night.

"I felt good when we were at home," Jeter said. "Today wasn't so good."

After Cruz's first home run, Phil Hughes pitched a scoreless ninth, Mariano Rivera added a scoreless 10th and 11th, and Gaudin (0-4) - the Yankees' eighth pitcher - pitched a scoreless 12th. But that scoreless streak lasted only one more pitch.

The Rangers used 11 pitchers. The 10th one was 39-year-old Darren Oliver, who made his major-league debut when the Rangers set their previous record for most pitchers used in a game, 10 in a game against the Red Sox Sept. 1, 1993.

The Yankees left 13 runners on base in the first nine innings, stranding three in the second and sixth when Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez struck out, respectively.

With the Yankees leading 5-3, Ian Kinsler led off the sixth with a single that banged off Rodriguez's glove at third, an unlucky break emblematic of Javier Vazquez's night, one in which he didn't pitch all that poorly.

Nonetheless, Girardi brought in lefty Boone Logan to face Mitch Moreland, who had walked and singled against Vazquez. Logan walked Moreland, and after a sacrifice bunt by Bengie Molina, Julio Borbon - who had a career-best four RBIs in the game - delivered an RBI groundout against David Robertson, making it 5-4.

Was Vazquez as disappointed about being taken out as he had been last Saturday, when he was removed with a 5-3 lead after 42/3 innings? "I am,'' he said. "It's disappointing, but you can't do anything about it."

He repeated he was disappointed but "not surprised" at seeing Girardi come out to get him.

Four of the Yankees' runs came off C.J. Wilson, who came in 14-6 with a 3.10 ERA. The lefthander, 0-1 with a 3.97 ERA in two previous starts against the Yankees this season, lasted three innings, matching a season low. He allowed four runs, six hits and three walks.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the second, aided by a controversial call by second-base umpire Alfonso Marquez.

Kinsler reached on an infield single and tried to steal second. Francisco Cervelli's throw to Jeter was spot on, and Jeter's tag appeared to easily retire Kinsler several feet before the bag. But Marquez signaled safe, which Jeter didn't see, apparently thinking the call was so obvious. Replays showed it was.

Upon seeing Kinsler still on second, Jeter began arguing with Marquez and Girardi joined him. The call proved important when Moreland walked, Molina bunted them to second and third and Borbon's groundout made it 1-0.

"It's the difference in the game," Girardi said of the call.

But the Yankees quickly put that behind them, pounding Wilson for four runs in the third. Rodriguez roped a two-run double into the gap in right-center to make it 2-1 and give him 102 RBIs. Marcus Thames and Cervelli added two-out RBI singles for a 4-1 lead.

Vazquez needed only nine pitches to set down the Rangers in order in the third but allowed them to pull within a run in the fourth. After Cruz popped out, Kinsler walked, Moreland singled him to third and Vazquez hit Molina to load the bases. Borbon slapped a two-run double past Mark Teixeira, making it 4-3.

Teixeira walked with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. It was his 100th RBI, but the last run the Yankees would drive in.

"We left a lot of guys on base," Jeter said. "When you're playing good teams, you get those opportunities, you have to find a way to get them in, and we weren't able to do that."