Yankee slugger’s blast upstages battle of aces
Pinstripes win CC vs Dickey showdown with longball; Norris walks off with first career HR
NEW YORK – The goodbye kiss landed on the black ramp behind the 408-foot sign, a few feet away from Citi Field’s signature set piece.
Sitting on a hitter’s count – 2and-0 – Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano roared into the pitch, sending it screaming to the left of the Mets’ home run apple.
It was a fitting, final party favor, a reminder for a Mets team which did not require reminding.
The Yankees hit home runs. The Mets do not.
Capping the Subway Series with one last blast off Mets reliever Miguel Batista, Cano helped the Yankees put a bow on a 6-5 victory Sunday night.
After sweeping the Mets at Yankee Stadium, the Bombers took two of three games at Citi Field.
After out-homering the Mets, 8-2, at Yankee Stadium, they outslugged the Mets, 72, at Citi Field.
After blowing a 5-1 lead Sunday, they survived thanks to Cano’s eighth-inning thunder.
“They hit balls out of the ballpark like there’s nothing to it,” Mets manager Terry Collins said.
R.A. Dickey and C.C. Sabathia, the two men on the marquee, both failed to make good on the advance billing.
The Bombers rendered Dickey human, hollowing the magic out of his knuckleball. He allowed a home run for the first time since May 17.
He gave up an earned run for the first time since May 22. He threw a wild pitch for the first time all season.
And when the Mets swapped him for a pinch hitter after he allowed five earned runs in six innings, it marked the earliest he had left a game in over a month.
“I didn’t have a great knuckleball tonight,” Dickey said, “but I fought my butt off.’’
Dickey’s streak of innings without allowing an earned run ended at 44 and a third, allowing a sacrafice fly off the bat of Mark Teixeira to score Curtis Granderson in the third inning of Sunday night’s game.
(The Record/MCT) LOS ANGELES Angels’ Howard Kendrick tags out Los Angeles Dodgers’ Ivan De Jesus at second base during the Halos’ 5-3 home win Sunday. The Angels now have a 54-38 all-time record against their cross-town rivals.
Angels 5, Dodgers 3 ANAHEIM – The names on the rosters have changed, but the results haven’t.
The Angels of Mike Trout and Albert Pujols are as dominant against the Dodgers as were the Angels of Vladimir Guerrero and Chone Figgins.
The annual interleague showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels ended the way it usually does, with the Angels taking four of six games of their season series, the last of them a 5-3 victory at Angel Stadium on Sunday.
“They’re a good club,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said. “And they’ve had good clubs. They’re tough.
“They come after you, they’re aggressive, they have talent. We have to get better.”
The Angels are 54-38 all-time against the Dodgers.
The Angels have won the last six series between the two teams, including the two they played this year. Of the last 18 games between the Angels and Dodgers, the Angels have won 13.
But the Angels’ dominance in interleague play extends far beyond their dominance over the Dodgers. The Angels finished interleague play this season with a 12-6 record. They have an interleague record of 74-34 since 2007, best in the major leagues.
The Dodgers were 6-9 in interleague competition, as their designated hitters were a combined two for 33 in those games. The last time they had a winning record against American League clubs in a season was in 2004.
“It’s always fun to play interleague and get a change, but it’s nice to get back to playing in our own division,” Dodgers starting pitcher Aaron Harang said.
The Dodgers, who have lost five of their last six games, will open a three-game series in San Francisco on Monday. The Dodgers have a three-game lead over the second-place Giants in the National League West.
Mattingly downplayed concerns about his Dodgers’ form heading in what is the team’s most important series to date. Though the Dodgers dropped two of three games in Anaheim, he said they weren’t the same team that was swept before that in Oakland.
“Our at-bats were solid all series,” Mattingly said. “This is what we basically do. We fight, we fight.”
The Dodgers on Sunday played what Mattingly described as a typical game for them. With Harang holding the Angels to three runs and eight hits in six innings, the score was tied, 3-3, heading into the seventh inning.
But the Angels broke through at the stage where the Dodgers often have.
Pujols drew a two-out walk in the seventh inning, immediately after which Kendrys Morales was struck by a pitch by reliever Josh Lindblom.
Mark Trumbo singled in Pujols for the go-ahead run. Another single, this one by Howie Kendrick, increased the Angels’ lead to 5-3.
(Los Angeles Times/MCT)
A’s 4, Giants 2
OAKLAND (Reuters) – A first career home run from Derek Norris gave the Oakland Athletics a walk-off ninth-inning 4-2 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Norris, who made his Major League debut last Thursday, came to the plate with two outs and Oakland trailing 2-1 before he slugged a three-run homer for a dramatic win that helped the Athletics avoid a three-game sweep.
Red-hot San Francisco pitcher Matt Cain allowed one run over seven innings and was in line to win his ninth straight start – something no Giants pitcher has done since 1952 – but the bullpen let the victory slip away.
Closer Santiago Casilla pitched the ninth, and allowed singles to Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Inge prior to the big blast to be charged with the defeat.
Oakland starter A.J. Griffin also made his big league debut in place of injured Brandon McCarthy. He allowed a firstinning two-run homer to Buster Posey, the Athletics also scored in the first, but was strong over six innings.