The rubber match of the three-game series between the Yankees and Rangers was another painful game for Yankees fans, although I would argue less painful than last night’s since it was clear early on that New York was not going to win this game. A strong start by Nathan Eovaldi and a good offensive performance by Texas paced the Rangers to a 10-6 win, handing the Bombers their third consecutive series loss.

Yankees starter Marcus Stroman’s struggles started early in tonight’s loss. In the bottom of the first, Wyatt Langford, last night’s hero for the Rangers, hit a one-out single to right before advancing to second on another hit to right by Nathaniel Lowe. A groundout up the middle by Adolis García scored Langford, giving the Rangers an early 1-0 lead.

It’s no surprise to Yankees fans to see Stroman struggle in the first inning. Coming into tonight’s game, Stroman had allowed 15 first-inning runs in his 26 starts this season. The only frame in which he’s coughed up more runs is the fifth (16 runs in 24 games).

In the bottom of the second, Leody Taveras hit a leadoff double on a fly ball to short center that should have been caught. Anthony Volpe was going for the fly ball, but he let up as he saw Aaron Judge coming in for it. Judge was too far out in center to have made that play in time. Whether you blame it on one of the two players or the team’s defensive positioning, this blunder led to another run for the Ranger after Ezequiel Duran doubled to right, bringing the score to 2-0.

Eovaldi found himself in a jam in the top of the third inning. With two outs, Gleyber Torres had an infield hit to first and advanced to second on a throwing error by Rangers shortstop Josh Smith (though it looked like his throw should have been caught by the first baseman Lowe). Eovaldi looked to be in some real trouble after walking Juan Soto and Judge, but he was able to get red-hot Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out to end the inning.

Following a 1-2-3 bottom of the third, Stroman found himself in trouble again in the fourth, as he gave up back-to-back singles to Duran and Travis Jankowski. Duran, who advanced to third on Jankowski’s single, scored the Rangers’ third run of the game on a groundout by Smith. With two outs, Stroman gave up a double to Langford, which scored Jankowski, and then a single to Lowe, scoring Langford.

Manager Aaron Boone finally had enough after the Rangers scored their fifth run of the night, and third run of the fourth inning, and replaced Stroman with reliever Scott Effross. Stroman ended his night after 3.2 innings and allowing nine hits and five earned runs.

The Yankees finally got on the board in the top of the fifth inning. With two outs, Torres walked on a controversial ball four call, and Soto hit a two-run dinger to left field off Eovaldi, bringing the score to 5-2.

Effross looked good in his second outing since being called up on September 1st. In 1.1 innings, the righty didn’t yield any hits or runs. He also got out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth with two Rangers on base, when he struck out Josh Jung for the third out. Pitching praise is going to be sparse in this recap, so savor it while it lasts.

Although Boone was probably concerned about overworking Effross in only his second game back, he probably would have pitched better than Tim Mayza in the bottom of the sixth. After striking out Jankowski to get the first out, Mayza gave up a double to Smith, followed by a walk to Langford. Lowe then singled, loading the bases for the Rangers. Boone opted to pull Mayza in favor of Mark Leiter Jr. However, things only got worse. With one out, García hit a double to left off of Leiter, scoring Smith and Langford. A wild pitch by Leiter allowed Lowe to score.

By the end of the sixth, the Rangers led the Yankees 8-2, and the game felt over already.

The Rangers continued to pile onto their lead in the bottom of the seventh off of Ron Marinaccio. Duran hit a double for his third hit of the night, scoring Taveras, who Marinaccio walked to lead off the inning. Like Duran, Langford got his third hit of the night with a single off Marinaccio, scoring Duran, bringing the score to 10-2.

Unlike the Yankees’ pitchers, Eovaldi can feel good about his performance tonight. In seven innings of work, he struck out six and allowed just four hits and two earned runs. This was Eovaldi’s seventh game in 12 starts in which he pitched seven innings. His start against the Yankees tonight was drastically better than his outing in the Bronx on August 10th. In that start, he lasted only three innings and gave up six hits and three earned runs.

In the top of the ninth, the Yankees’ offense finally showed signs of life beyond Soto. With two outs, Rangers reliever Matt Festa gave skipper Bruce Bochy some extra gray hairs by issuing three consecutive walks to Oswaldo Cabrera (who replaced Alex Verdugo before the bottom of the eighth inning), Jose Trevino, and Torres. Bochy replaced Festa with reliever Grant Anderson. Trent Grisham, who was a defensive replacement for Soto in the eighth, hit a grand slam.

The Rangers still led the Yankees 10-6, but New York had faint life. The Yankees continued to rally with Duke Ellis, who came in as Judge’s defensive replacement, and Chisholm both hitting singles following Grisham’s grand slam. For the 26-year-old Ellis, it was first hit of his MLB career. Since Chisholm’s hit caromed off pitcher Grant Anderson, Bochy swapped him out for All-Star closer Kirby Yates.

Yates ended up getting his man, but not through any great feat of his own. Instead, this very strange ninth inning came to a close a great catch by Langford, who seemingly robbed Giancarlo Stanton of a three-run home run that would’ve made it 10-9.

Oh well. The double-digit runs allowed by Stroman, Mayza, Leiter, and Marinaccio made the deficit too large in the first place. This was an especially frustrating loss because the Orioles inexplicably dropped a home game to the 109-loss White Sox, but Baltimore will retain its half-game edge on first place in the AL East.

The Yankees will have tomorrow off and head to Wrigley Field to face the Cubs on Friday afternoon. Luis Gil, who is returning from his short stint on the IL, will get the start against Chicago southpaw Jordan Wicks in a 2:20pm ET matinee.