Garcia steps up in Yanks' win over Texas

If this is how Freddy Garcia pitches when he goes nearly three weeks between starts, perhaps the Yankees might want to consider reconfiguring their upcoming pitching schedule.

Making his first start of the regular season Saturdayafternoon in winter-like conditions, Garcia gave the much-maligned Yankees rotation a feel-good boost by throwing six scoreless innings in a 5-2 victory over the Rangers at Yankee Stadium.

Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the third to open an early 3-0 lead, and the wily veteran made it stand up. Starting a game for the first time since his spring training finale March 29, Garcia allowed only two singles and a walk.

Surely the rain, wind and mid-40s weather helped the pitchers more than the hitters on this day, but that shouldn't take away from Garcia's impressive display of pitching. He threw five different pitches that ranged in speed by 20 mph, with a fastball hitting 87 mph and a curveball as low as 67 mph.

On the heels of Phil Hughes' struggles to survive with only a 90-mph fastball, Garcia's performance served as a timely reminder that a pitcher often can do a lot more with a lot less.

"You don't have to throw 95," manager Joe Girardi said. "You have to locate and change speeds and move the ball around and not give up free passes. That's the lesson to be learned. Have command of your pitches and use the whole strike zone."

Girardi said before the game that he didn't know what to expect from Garcia, but that had nothing to do with what kind of velocity he could generate. Garcia had gone 18 days between starts, with only a shaky inning in relief last Sunday and several bullpen sessions to show for it.

But Garcia showed no rust in keeping one of the league's most talented lineups off-balance for six innings. "They're real aggressive, so I tried to mix my speeds all the time," he said. "I have to throw different pitches every time because I know what they're looking for."

Girardi would have liked to have kept Garcia in the game longer, but he wasn't comfortable with his pitch count of 84 going any higher. He said Garcia threw 72 pitches in his final spring training start.

So Girardi went to his usual late-inning tandem of Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera, hoping to cruise to the win. But Soriano struggled in the eighth, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk, putting the tying and go-ahead runners on base and barely keeping the Yankees ahead.

After a double by Mitch Moreland, a one-out walk to Ian Kinsler, an RBI single by Elvis Andrus and an infield single by Michael Young that made it 3-2, Adrian Beltre batted with runners on first and second and almost changed the game with one swing. On a 2-and-2 pitch, he lifted a long fly down the rightfield line that carried all the way into the stands -- just to the right of the foul pole, and not by much.

"That ball stayed up there for a long, long time and a long way," catcher Gustavo Molina said. Added Girardi, "When he hit it, there was some concern."

"After that, I said, 'All right, let me throw my fastball and see what happens,' " Soriano said.

So he went back to his 94-mph fastball and won the battle by inducing Beltre to hit a hard grounder right at Robinson Cano for an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. The fans who stayed through an awful day rewarded him with a big ovation.

"In Tampa Bay, it's not like that," he said. "I like it when a lot of people watch the game."

Cano then showed better accuracy than Beltre, hitting a two-run homer off the rightfield foul pole off lefthander Derek Holland (2-1) with two outs in the eighth.