HALO, GOODBYE: YANKEES BEDEVIL ANGELS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — They left home a game out of first place in the AL East, lost four of seven to the Astros and Angels and looked anemic at the plate in far too many atbats.
Yet, when the Yankees’ PacifictoAtlantic plane landed at dawn Thursday, they were closer to the top of the standings than before opening the trip that was highlighted by solid starting pitching and a lack of hitting.
Thanks to a 31 victory Wednesday over the Angels in front of 40,938 at Angel Stadium, the Yankees avoided dropping five of seven while scoring 18 runs in seven tilts; nine of them in one game.
Despite the sub.500 trip, the Yankees are onehalf game back of the AL Eastleading Orioles.
“The division is extremely close,’’ manager Joe Girardi said after watching Dellin Betances work out of a ninthinning jam to seal the victory with his seventh save. “I expect it to be this way the whole year. It was a tough road trip and not what you want, 34, but it’s better than 25.’’
Nathan Eovaldi’s third straight solid outing since being embarrassed in Miami on June 16 was backed by RBI singles from Chase Headley and Didi Gregorius, Garrett Jones’ homer in the sixth and exceptional relief pitching by Chasen Shreve and Betances.
Eovaldi blanked the Angels through five, pitching out of a sticky spot in the fifth, but when he loaded the bases with a leadoff single to Johnny Giavotella and oneout walks to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in the sixth, Girardi summoned the lefthanded Shreve to face the switchhitting Erick Aybar with the Yankees leading, 20.
“I try to focus on the glove,’’ said Shreve, who retired Aybar on a popup and watched Mark Teixeira scoop Headley’s low throw across the diamond for the inning’s final out. “It gets your adrenaline going.’’
Shreve, who hasn’t allowed a run in his past 15 outings and has retired 59 of the last 70 batters he has faced, hurled a perfect seventh and turned it over to Justin Wilson. He got the first two outs of the eighth, gave up a solo homer to Trout and was lifted for Betances with Pujols coming to the plate.
Betances retired Pujols on two pitches and recorded the final three outs, but not before Aybar drew a leadoff walk and Chris Iannetta walked with two outs. Betances responded by striking out pinchhitter C.J. Cron.
Since giving up eight runs and nine hits to his former team in Miami, Eovaldi is 30. He is 82 for the season and has lost just once since May 12.
“Obviously 43 [for the trip] would have been a lot better but we battled and played a lot of tough games and it’s good to end this stretch and still be where we are at and kind of going home to play our best baseball,’’ Alex Rodriguez said.
Playing right field because Carlos Beltran left Tuesday night’s game with a bothersome left rib cage muscle, Jones upped the Yankees’ lead to 20 in the sixth with a towering homer to right field off Angels righthander Matt Shoemaker. It was the lefthanded hitting Jones’ fifth homer.
“I saw the ball over the middle of the plate. I had an easy swing and got the good part of the bat on it,’’ Jones said.
Gregorius (2for3) singled home Brian McCann in the eighth for a 30 lead.
Headley went 3for5 with an RBI, handled several challenging plays at third and credited Teixeira’s ability to vacuum balls out of the dirt.
“If he is not the best in the game [on defense], he is right there,’’ said Headley, who turned eight ground balls into outs. “He digs it out and saves mistakes.’’
A 34 record isn’t in the recipe for winning a division. Yet, with almost three months completed, it also doesn’t get you buried in this version of the AL East.