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Yankees 7, Rangers 3

Yankees rally to sweep Rangers, roll into showdown against Red Sox at Fenway on Friday

The Yankees' Gleyber Torres dived for the corner of the plate and just eluded Jose Trevino's tag in the eighth inning.Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

NEW YORK — Gleyber Torres doubled home Joey Gallo for the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, Gary Sánchez followed with a two-run homer and the Yankees rallied past the Rangers, 7-3, Wednesday night for a three-game sweep heading into a divisional gauntlet that will decide their postseason fate.

New York made two errors, allowed two stolen bases, had a baserunner sprint through a stop sign but score easily and another thrown out at home plate.

Hardly textbook, but enough against the last-place Rangers. It's about to get significantly tougher.

The Yankees’ wild-card chase takes them to Fenway Park for three games starting Friday night followed by three at Toronto and a season-ending three-game homestand against Tampa Bay.

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New York is half a game ahead of Toronto for the second and final AL wild card after the Blue Jays lost a matinee to Tampa Bay, which clinched a postseason spot with the victory. The Red Sox are two games ahead of the Yankees.

The Yankees won their third straight following a 7-15 slump. They scored four runs with two outs in the eighth inning after Gallo reached against his former team when his popup off Spencer Patton (1-2) dropped in deserted left field against the shifted Rangers.

Torres followed with a liner into the right-field corner for a 4-3 lead, then scored from second when second baseman Yonny Hernandez bobbled Gio Urshela's grounder. Torres dived for the corner of the plate and just eluded Jose Trevino's tag. The safe call was upheld by a replay review.

Sánchez, a substite on defense in the top of the inning, connected for his 23rd homer to dead-center for a four-run cushion.

Chad Green (9-7) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Aroldis Chapman cruised through the ninth in a non-save situation.

Texas chipped away against starter Corey Kluber with eight hits — including six singles — and three runs over 4⅓ innings. The 35-year-old struck out four and threw 84 pitches. Texas stole two bases against Kluber and also beat out consecutive potential double-play grounders in the second that stretched his pitch count.

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