The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Torres homers in 4th straight as Yankees win series opener
NEW YORK — Gleyber Torres became the youngest American League player to homer in four straight games, Aaron Judge threw out a pair of runners from right field and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 Friday night in the opener of a series showcasing some of the sport’s brightest stars.
Shohei Ohtani, the twoway Japanese rookie sensation, came up with the potential tying run on base and two outs in the eighth. New York brought in closer Aroldis Chapman to face Ohtani with Justin Upton at first.
Chapman threw a wild pitch that advanced the runner, Ohtani sent a 100 mph pitch just foul of the left-field pole, then grounded out on a 101 mph offering. While Ohtani is batting .309 to go along with a 4-1 pitching record, he is just 4 for 23 (.174) at the plate against lefty pitchers. The 23-year-old was 0 for 3 with a walk, booed lightly in his Yankee Stadium debut after deciding to spurn the Yankees and sign with the Angels.
Mike Trout tied the score in the fifth for Los Angeles with his 16th homer.
Torres drove in New York’s first run with an infield hit in the second. He broke a 1-all tie in the seventh against Jim Johnson (2-2) with a drive over the right-field scoreboard, his ninth homer since coming up to the Yankees on April
22 and his fifth in four games. At 21 years, 163 days, he became the fourthyoungest player to homer in four straight games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Only Miguel Cabrera (20 years, 362 days) in 2004, Andrew Jones (21-139) in 1998 and Albert Pujols (21-147) in 2001 were younger. All of them were in the National League.
Chad Green (3-0) won in relief of Luis Severino. Chapman, pitching on five days’ rest, got four straight outs for his 10th save in 11 chances, finishing a sixhitter.
New York loaded the bases in the second and Torres hit a grounder down the third-base line. Zack Cozart made a backhand grab, but his one-hop throw ricocheted off Pujols’ glove at first base as Didi Gregorius came home on the infield hit. Aaron Hicks initially held up but was forced to head home when Miguel Andujar headed for third. Pujols picked up the ball at the back of the infield dirt and threw to catcher Martin Maldonado, who tagged Hicks.
Kole Calhoun singled with one out in the bottom half and advanced on Gary Sanchez’s eighth passed ball of the season. When Upton lined a single to right with two outs, Judge threw from 216 feet at 100.5 mph, his hardest in the major leagues, according to MLB’s Statcast. Sanchez caught the ball on the fly, then reached back and tagged Calhoun on the left calf.
Judge threw out Maldonado trying to stretch a single in the seventh, taking a one-hopper in the right-field corner and throwing Gregorius at second for the tag.