ARLINGTON, Texas — Tyler Wade started the night on the bench with little indication he’d soon be part of history.
But when Ryan LaMarre pulled up lame while running out a grounder in the third, everything changed.
With the Yankees’ outfield battered by injuries, manager Aaron Boone turned to Wade to replace LaMarre in right, and Wade came through with some of the most important plays of Corey Kluber’s no-hitter in the Yankees’ 2-0 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
“You have to stay ready,’’ Wade said. “You don’t ever know what’s gonna happen.”
The first came when the game was still scoreless in the top of the sixth.
After Kyle Higashioka led off with a walk, Wade followed with a long triple to right-center off Texas left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang.
The shot scored Higashioka, and Wade came home on DJ LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly to left to make it 2-0.
Then with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Wade ran down David Dahl’s fly ball near the right-field line to help secure Kluber’s milestone.
“Just catch the baseball,’’ Wade said of his mindset on the play. “That’s about it.”
It came after Wade said Brett Gardner reminded him as they were headed to the outfield before the bottom of the seventh that Kluber was on the verge of history.
“[Gardner] said, ‘You know, he’s got a no-hitter going,’ ’’ Wade said. “I said, ‘Bro, I can’t believe you’d say that,’ but he was making me aware if there was anything close, I had to dive for it.”
And for a moment, when the ball left Dahl’s bat, it seemed that might be necessary.
“Initially, I thought it was pretty well-placed,’’ Higashioka said. “I got a little sad for a second, but he zoomed over there and didn’t even have to dive for it .”
Wade said he had no doubt he’d do it.
“I knew I was gonna catch it,’’ Wade said. “I just didn’t know if I would have to dive. You couldn’t hear anything off the bat because it was so loud.”
Kluber said the ball to right “was one of the few I was wondering if it was gonna fall in for a hit, but Wade, who’s not an outfielder by trade, tracked the ball down, which was more impressive.”
One batter later, Kluber got a ground ball from Willie Calhoun to finish off the night.
With the Yankees outfield in shambles thanks to injury, they might need Wade again in the coming days, but it seems unlikely he’ll have a more memorable game than on Wednesday.
“He had the huge at-bat [in the sixth] and stings the ball in the gap and with his speed gets to third to score on the sac fly,’’ Boone said. “He played really well in right field and made plays that seemed pretty easy and routine. He hasn’t played a lot of outfield for us, but I think the skill-set he brings to the table was on display. He was a difference-maker in our game.”