It was CC Sabathia on Tuesday, with the reasonable voice of an elder statesman, who said now was the time for the Yankees to play with urgency. Before that, it was Brian Cashman who said these were the days that would determine the Yankees’ identity at the trade deadline and beyond.
“You can’t mess around too long and expect to be there,” Joe Girardi said Wednesday. “As the days tick away, you start to run out of time and you don’t want to bury yourself.”
Message received. In the biggest of ways.
Despite trailing for the entire game, the Yankees came back in stunning fashion, scoring six runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the first-place Texas Rangers, 9-7. The Yankees avoided their fourth straight loss and breathed life into a team on the brink of desperation.
Trailing 7-3 going into the ninth, Rob Refsnyder walked and Jacoby Ellsbury singled. Brett Gardner singled off Rangers closer Sam Dyson and a misplay in the outfield allowed Refsnyder to score. After Alex Rodriguez lined out to second, Brian McCann slammed a three-run homer, his second of the game, to tie it at 7. Starlin Castro walked and Didi Gregorius hit a walk-off homer to right to win it.
“I think each guy each guy basically did his job and didn’t try to do too much,” Girardi said.
“You feel that you’re in a pretty good spot when you’re down three and you’ve got some guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
It didn’t ever seem like it would get that far, especially after a forgettable performance from Masahiro Tanaka, one of the Yankees’ more reliable arms.
Tanaka struck out the first two batters he faced and appeared to stall after that, giving up a leadoff double to Prince Fielder in the second and a one-out RBI single to Elvis Andrus to start things off for the Rangers.
 Though Chase Headley tied it up in the bottom of the inning on his fifth home run of the year – the 500th RBI of his career – the third inning proved to be disastrous continuation for Tanaka and the Yankees. And, with this injury-riddled lineup, it wasn’t one they seemingly had much hope of overcoming.
The Rangers scored four runs in the third, keyed by back-to-back leadoff singles by Robinson Chirinos, the No. 9 hitter, and Shin-Soo Choo. Tanaka walked Ian Desmond to load the bases and took the next batter, rookie Nomar Mazara to a full count, before Mazara ripped an 87-mph slider to centre for a bases-clearing double. One batter later, Fielder hit a hopper to first base that glanced off the glove of a diving Rob Refsnyder to score Mazara for the 5-1 lead.
Though that was deemed a hit, Refsnyder – relatively new at the position and in for Mark Teixeira, who was resting the sore right knee that landed him on the disabled list earlier this month – had made an error in the first inning.
Tanaka (5-3) allowed six runs – all earned – on eight hits over eight innings, with a walk and seven strikeouts. Headley (1-for-3) had a sacrifice fly in the sixth, while Brett Gardner went 0-for-4. Alex Rodriguez was 0-for-5.
Leadoff homers by Rougned Odor – in the sixth, off Tanaka – and Adrian Beltre – off Luis Cessa in the eighth – gave the Rangers a 7-2 cushion, and it appeared to be plenty of room. After all, this Yankees team seems on the brink of being sellers come in the trade deadline.
But, if the ninth inning is any indication, it might just be too early to count them out.

RESULTS
Tampa Bay 4 Boston 0
Chicago Cubs 9 Cincinnati 2
Detroit 10 Miami 3
Toronto 5 Colorado 3
Houston 10 LA Angels 4
Baltimore 12 San Diego 6
Philadelphia 9 Arizona 8
(10 innings)
Washington 4 NY Mets 2
NY Yankees 9 Texas 7
Cleveland 3 Atlanta 0
Milwaukee 7 LA Dodgers 0
White Sox 9 Minnesota 6
Kansas City 3 St. Louis 2
(12 innings)
Oakland 7 San Francisco 1
Pittsburgh 8 Seattle 1