Byrd’s grand slam gives Texas Rangers walk-off win over Yankees

ARLINGTON — A game that featured a two-balk inning, a manager’s ejection and a crucial foul-ball call ended with another oddity: a walk-off grand slam.

Marlon Byrd was the hero Monday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, sending a Damaso Marte pitch into the bleachers in right-center field for a 9-5 victory over the New York Yankees.

The winning slam came with two outs. All three Rangers were on base via walks issued by Marte, who was pitching in the ninth because Yankees closer Mariano Rivera (back) was unavailable.

"I knew it was gone. I didn’t even feel it come off my bat," Byrd said. "This is my second walk-off. This has to be the biggest because we’re in the thick of things."

Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth inning for the second consecutive game and earned the victory. But he needed a diving catch by Josh Hamilton with two outs to rob Derek Jeter of a single with the go-ahead run at second base.

"We just keep picking up each other," said Byrd, who just missed a leaping catch to rob Xavier Nady of the game-tying homer in the eighth. "I missed the home run. I struck out in my next at-bat without taking the bat off my shoulders. They gave me another chance. I’ll take it."

The Yankees jumped into a 3-0 lead behind a first-inning single by Jason Giambi and fourth-inning solo homers by Giambi and Robinson Cano off Vicente Padilla.

David Murphy cut the Rangers’ deficit to 3-2 with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth, but the Yankees got a run back in the fifth as Padilla balked Johnny Damon to second and later balked him home.

The second balk call drew the ire of manager Ron Washington, who was tossed after an animated argument with first-base umpire Alfonso Marquez.

"I did what I had to do," Washington said.

So did the Rangers, who jumped in front in the bottom of the inning on a three-run homer by Michael Young.

But Yankees fans, who made up a large portion of the announced crowd of 33,813, could argue that Young should have never batted in the inning.

Umpires overturned a fair-ball call on a squibber by Ian Kinsler that initially resulted in a double play. They huddled and determined the ball had hit Kinsler in the batter’s box and was a foul ball.

He drew a walk, and, after Gerald Laird flew out, Young delivered.

"I think everybody got their money’s worth tonight," said Washington, who has the Rangers five games above .500 for the first time since 2006. "These guys continue to show what they’re made of."

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