Taillon loses perfecto in 8th, Yanks rally to sweep Angels
NEW YORK — Jameson Taillon took a perfect game into the eighth inning, then fell behind before the New York Yankees rallied past the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 Thursday night on a clutch swing by pinch-hitter Anthony Rizzo.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Rizzo grounded a two-run single up the middle. Clay Holmes left the bases loaded in the ninth, and the Yankees swept a thrilling doubleheader while handing the Angels their eighth straight loss — the team’s worst skid since 2019.
New York won the opener 6-1, with manager Joe Maddon indicating that starter Shohei Ohtani may have been tipping his pitches to the savvy Bronx Bombers. The AL MVP gave up solo homers to Matt Carpenter, Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge.
Jared Walsh ended Taillon’s bid for a perfect game in the top of the eighth with a groundball double off shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s glove. He scored on Kurt Suzuki’s single for a 1-0 lead.
The Yankees countered by loading the bases with one out in the bottom half against Oliver Ortega (12). Archie Bradley relieved and struck out Joey Gallo, then got two strikes on Rizzo.
The former Chicago Cubs star ripped a 1-2 pitch right back up the middle, scoring Miguel And˙jar and Kiner-Falefa easily.
Holmes replaced Taillon for the ninth and earned his seventh save. He walked Ohtani with two outs, drilled Mike Trout in the left arm with a pitch and also plunked Walsh on the knee before Luis Rengifo grounded out.
Trout seemed to be in significant pain but remained in the game.
Taillon allowed two hits, striking out five without a walk on a seasonhigh 101 pitches.
Ohtani made history in the nightcap, joining Hall of Fame slugger
Jimmie Foxx as the only players to start both ends of a doubleheader, one of them as a pitcher, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Foxx did it with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945 during the final month of his career.
Taillon cruised through seven innings on 83 pitches, six outs from a perfect game with Ohtani and Trout already out of his way.
Walsh led off the eighth with a grounder up the middle. Kiner-Falefa, shifted to the right side of second base, chased after it, slid and hurried to make a backhand grab and throw. The ball skipped off his mitt into shallow left field, allowing Walsh to reach second.
Taillon grimaced slightly and spit, but otherwise didn’t react much to the hit.
He was visited by a trainer three batters later after covering first base on Brandon Marsh’s groundout. The right-hander insisted he was good to stay in, then gave up Suzuki’s line drive to left that scored Walsh.
GAME 1
Maddon said he thought New York had picked up on a tell from Ohtani via “natural means.”
“We just have to be more vigilant,” Maddon said.
Carpenter led off the first inning with a homer that capped an 11-pitch at-bat, and Ohtani didn’t get his first swing and miss until his 54th pitch. He was charged with four runs in three-plus innings before Maddon pulled the plug after 75 pitches.
Cortes (5-1) delivered seven tidy innings, DJ LeMahieu also homered and the major leagueleading Yankees ensured themselves a series victory.
The game was delayed 1 hour, 28 minutes, prior to the top of the ninth. Wandy Peralta returned after the pause and finished for his first save, striking out Ohtani to end it.
Ohtani (3-4) slogged through another disappointing day at Yankee Stadium after getting two outs and allowing seven runs in his debut on the Bronx rubber last June.
Carpenter hit his third homer in six games since joining the Yankees, and Torres connected three batters later to make it 2-0, his 10th homer of the season to surpass his total from 2021. Judge tagged Ohtani leading off the third, a line drive that easily cleared the wall in left for his major league-leading 19th homer.
Ohtani’s velocity was up half a tick from his season average, but he didn’t induce a whiff until a fastball that struck out Rizzo to end a 10-pitch atbat in the third. Ohtani ended with three misses on 45 swings, a 6.7 percent rate that’s second lowest in his career.