Bibens-Dirkx pitches Rangers past Yankees

NEW YORK — Austin Bibens-Dirkx pitched seven dazzling innings in his first shot at the New York Yankees after 12 seasons in the minors, and Carlos Gomez homered for the Texas Rangers in their 8-1 victory Saturday.

Robinson Chirinos also went deep and Elvis Andrus had a pair of run-scoring hits for the Rangers, who rebounded quickly from a difficult defeat that ended at 12:19 a.m. The teams were back on the field less than 13 hours after New York rallied to win the rain-delayed series opener 2-1 in 10 innings, and Bibens-Dirkx (3-0) lulled the Yankees’ bats to sleep.

The 32-year-old rookie, promoted to the majors last month for the first time, allowed only Aaron Judge’s major league-leading 26th home run in his fourth big league start. Filling a spot in Texas’ injury-depleted rotation lately, the right-hander scattered five hits and walked one while striking out three on 93 efficient pitches.

Not a bad Yankee Stadium debut for a guy who was pitching in the independent Atlantic League last year and bounced all around the minors before finally getting his chance.

Fittingly, his unusual name is misspelled in the player development section of Texas’ media guide, missing the “x” in Bibens-Dirkx.

New York, which began the day leading the AL East by a percentage point over Boston, has dropped nine of 11. Texas has won 10 of 15. ROYALS 3, BLUE JAYS 2: Jason Vargas earned his major league-leading 11th victory, pitching seven efficient innings to lead the surging Kansas City Royals over the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Royals won for the 11th time in 13 games and moved over .500 for the first time this season at 37-36.

CUBS 5, MARLINS 3: Jon Lester gave up a three-run homer to J.T. Realmuto in the first inning and then settled down to help the Chicago Cubs beat the Miami Marlins.