ARLINGTON, Texas -- Joe Torre knew Alfonso Soriano would get the big hit.
Soriano doubled in the go-ahead run off Ugueth Urbina with two outs in the 10th inning as the New York Yankees became the first team to reach 20 wins by beating the Texas Rangers 7-5 Saturday night.
"He looked bad swinging on the first two strikes from Urbina," Torre said. "He's one of those guys that doesn't panic when things aren't going his way."
Jason Giambi also homered for the Yankees (20-4), who won for the ninth time in 10 games and beat former manager Buck Showalter for the second straight night.
Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez and Ruben Sierra homered for Texas. Palmeiro's home run was the 497th of his career.
Soriano extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games. He hit his AL-leading ninth homer in the second inning, a two-run shot.
"He's the most amazing player," Yankees starter David Wells said. "It's fun to have him on your team because he's annoying a lot of opposing pitchers."
Jorge Posada led off the 10th by drawing a walk from Urbina (0-1). After Raul Mondesi fouled out, Posada stole second base and Nick Johnson walked.
Enrique Wilson struck out, but Soriano grounded a 1-2 pitch past diving third baseman Hank Blalock to score Posada.
"I missed a couple of breaking balls," Soriano said. "I was expecting something slow, and I just wanted to make good contact."
Esteban Yan relieved and immediately threw a wild pitch that allowed Johnson to score.
Chris Hammond (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning to earn the victory. Juan Acevedo worked the 10th for his fifth save of the season, striking out Rodriguez with a runner on to end it.
"That's a good team over there," Rodriguez said. "We're playing competitive ball and playing good defense. I think we could hit a little better than what we are. But we're going to be all right."
Urbina allowed two runs in 1 2/3 innings.
New York scored two runs in the first and second innings off Doug Davis, who made his first start of the season after he was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma earlier in the day.
"The biggest jump in professional sports is from the minor leagues to the majors," Showalter said. "Doug just didn't have his command."
Wells allowed a season-high five runs and seven hits over eight innings.
As he was walking off the mound in the third, Wells said he was hit in the head with a peanut. Wells said he saw the fan in the stands, and he was laughing at the left-hander.
Arlington police said there were no eyewitnesses and no arrests were made. They also searched the area and found no remnants of peanuts.
Davis lasted just three innings and threw 73 pitches. He yielded four runs, four hits and walked four batters. In four starts in the minors, Davis walked just one batter.
Rosman Garcia relieved Davis and allowed an earned run and two hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Rodriguez tied the score at 5 when he homered to lead off the sixth, his eighth of the season.
In sixth, Mondesi scored on Erick Almonte's RBI grounder to give New York a 5-4 lead.
The Yankees jumped on Davis quickly. Soriano walked to lead off the game, and one out later Giambi hit his fifth homer for a 2-0 lead.
New York then loaded the bases against Davis, who threw 44 pitches in the first inning. He got out the jam when he struck out Johnson.
Texas bounced back with four runs in the second. Juan Gonzalez singled, and Sierra drove an 0-2 pitch to the left-field seats for his second homer of the season. Palmeiro followed with his seventh homer.
After Michael Young tripled, Einar Diaz drove him home with a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 4.
The Yankees had a chance to regain the lead in the third, but Posada was thrown at home on Johnson's double for the third out.
Showalter managed the Yankees from 1992-95. He led them to the playoffs in '95 for the first time in 14 years, but they lost to Seattle in the first round and he was replaced by Torre.
Notes: Gonzalez got his AL-leading fourth assist when Posada was thrown at the plate in the third. ... Texas' Carl Everett pinch-hit in the 10th and struck out, ending his 10-game hitting streak. ... The Yankees, who lead the majors with 47 homers, have homered in 13 consecutive games and 21 of 24. ... New York's Robin Ventura, who charged the mound in Texas 10 years ago when he was hit by a pitch from Nolan Ryan, was booed when he pinch-hit for Almonte in the eighth.
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