Yanks win 9th straight
Yankees look for a little payback vs. ’Stros after sweeping Angels for 9th straight win
Gary Sanchez (front) celebrates with Giancarlo Stanton after launching a two-run home run that propelled the Yankees to a 2-1 win over the Angels and into a four-game showdown at Houston as the Bombers make their first visit to Minute Maid Park since losing Game 7 of the ALCS in October.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Because there is an expiration date on everything the day is out there when CC Sabathia won’t be towering over a big league pitching mound.
Based on the way the veteran lefty pitched Sunday night against the Angels at Angel Stadium, it’s going to be a while before Sabathia walks away from what at this moment is a career collecting Hall of Fame momentum.
“Everything was working for him, all of the pitches were sharp,’’ catcher Gary Sanchez said of Sabathia, who allowed a tainted run and f ive hits in seven innings to lead the Yankees to a 2-1 victory in front of 44,693 customers, many of whom were draped in Yankees gear and loudly making their presence known. “Great cutter and changeup.’’
Sanchez added a two-run homer that cleared the Angels’ bullpen in left field in the fourth off lefty Tyler Skaggs for the only two runs the Yankees would need. It was Sanchez’s seventh homer and he has 24 RBIs in 24 games.
“The only other person I saw go over the bullpen was ARod,’’ Sabathia said of Alex Rodriguez.
A ninth straight victory sent the Yankees to Houston where they open a four-game series against the defending World Series champion Astros on Monday night at Minute Maid Park. It’s the Yankees’ first meeting with the Astros who won Game 6 and 7 of last year’s ALCS at home to deny the Yankees a trip to the World Series.
“Whatever happened last year is in the past,’’ Sanchez said.
To a certain age baseball fan, Sabathia will be known as the left-hander who routinely delivered high-octane gas. To the latest generation, the 37-yearold is a pitcher who kills hitters with knowledge and location of pitches that eke into the 90 mph range at times but go no faster.
“When I am healthy, I can repeat my delivery and make good pitches,’’ said Sabathia, who is 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA in five starts and has pitched two gems in three games since ending a disabled list stint for a hip problem he didn’t believe warranted going on the shelf.
Sabathia had more trouble with umpire Angel Hernandez’s strike zone than he did with the Angels’ lineup. Sabathia believed a 1-2 pitch to Justin Upton should have ended the third and stranded two runners. Sabathia gave Hernandez a look before inducing Upton to ground out. Walking off the mound Sabathia said something in Hernandez’s direction. When Sabathia took the mound for the fourth Hernandez met him near the mound and gave him the ball.
“I thought I was throwing strikes, that’s it,’’ Sabathia said of his involvement with Hernandez, who also heard it several times from Angels manager Mike Scioscia.
Aaron Boone sent Sabathia out for the seventh for the first time this year and watched Didi Gregorius fall down fielding the heavy-legged Rene Rivera’s ground ball that went for a two-out single. Sabathia responded by keeping the 2-1 lead intact by retiring Ian Kinsler on a routine fly to right.
Chad Green put two runners on in the eighth and Aroldis Chapman needed to strike out Kinsler for his sixth save with Chris Young on second via a walk and stolen base.
Sabathia’s strong outing was his 239th career win and the most recent by a Yankee starter. During the winning streak the starters are 6-0 with a 2.14 ERA.
“Obviously, this is a really good team. We have some really good players in here. It’s up to [starters] to go out and execute,’’ said Sabathia, who is unbeaten in his last 13 regularseason starts since last Aug. 19. In that span he is 7-0 with a 2.48 ERA. “These guys are going to hit and it’s up to us to help the bullpen out.’’
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Sonny Gray opens a fourgame series against the Astros on Monday night in Houston looking to escape a 1-1 record that goes with a very bloated 7.71 ERA in five starts.
Gray, who went through a throwing session early Sunday afternoon in the outfield with pitching coach Larry Rothschild watching, has allowed 29 hits and issued 16 walks against 19 strikeouts in 21 innings.
Manager Aaron Boone has harped on getting the right-hander out of his funk because he is an important part of the rotation. Perhaps Gray can draw on the five-plus innings he worked in Game 4 of last year’s ALCS against the Astros at Yankee Stadium when he allowed one hit and one earned run and helped the Yankees even the best-of-seven series at 2-2 with a 6-3 victory.
Didi Gregorius and Aaron Judge are the two biggest reasons the Yankees entered Sunday’s action first in the majors in slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, runs scored and RBIs.
Gary Sanchez, who homered Sunday to provide to the only offense in a 2-1 win over the Angels, and Aaron Hicks have provided support from the middle of the lineup that also houses Gian
carlo Stanton, who has shown signs he is about to take off at the plate.
However, don’t overlook what the Yankees have received from the bottom third of the lineup during their current nine-game winning streak.
In those games, the seven, eight and nine hitters combined for a .297 (30-for-101) average with two homers and 16 RBIs. That rookies Miguel
Andujar and Gleyber Torres are regulars in that part of Boone’s order is impressive.
Andujar has not played like your normal bottom-of-the-order hitter recently. In his past 11 games going into Sunday night’s action, Andujar was hitting .409 (18-44) with three homers, eight RBIs, an AL-leading 12 doubles and a 1.331 OPS.
Andujar, batting eighth Sunday, was 0-for-3 with a strikeout while Gleyber Torres was 1-for-2 with a strikeout and a walk while batting ninth. Neil Walker, batting seventh, was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Because he started on Sunday, when the Astros beat the A’s, the Yankees will miss Astros righthander Gerrit Cole in the four games at Minute Maid Park. Cole was a trade target for the Yankees this offseason. It was the second time the Yankees pursued Cole. They picked him in the first round of the 2008 draft but he opted for UCLA instead.