ARLINGTON, Tex. — For all the years that Alex Rodriguez was the Yankees’ carnival act, a ballplayer who seemed to create as many headlines with his behavior as he did with his bat, who would have figured this?
Rodriguez, who turned 40 on Monday, has become the centerpiece of a different sort of sideshow — as a button-down slugger who is overshadowing everything else on the field with his bat.
For the record, the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2. And it was also worth chronicling shortstop Didi Gregorius’s two career firsts: a home run against a left-hander and four R.