Angels pound Tigers 11-4
DETROIT — Eric Young Jr. is taking advantage of the opportunity to play in place of Mike Trout.
Young had three hits and scored three runs, helping the Los Angeles Angels rout the Detroit Tigers 11-4 Thursday.
The 32-year-old outfielder is hitting .333 since getting called up from Triple-A Salt Lake on May 29 to fill in for in for Trout, a two-time AL MVP recovering from a hand injury.
“He’s showing what his skillset is and he’s playing good defense,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “And on both sides of the plate, he’s just getting clutch hits.”
The switch-hitting Young shrugged off the success he’s having, saying he’s not thinking about it too much about regularly being in the lineup.
“As long as I see my name in there, hopefully I’m doing something that warrants keeping me in there,” Young said. “If I come in the next day and see my name in there, I must have done something well enough the night before to get the next start.
Albert Pujols hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly to cap a four-run fifth inning and the Angels added six runs in the seventh, allowing them to pull away and win the three-game series.
JC Ramirez (6-4) gave up four runs — allowing the Tigers to take an early 4-1 lead — and 10 hits over five innings.
Michael Fulmer (6-4) allowed five runs and nine hits over a season-low, 4 1/3 innings.
“I made some good pitches. I made some bad pitches,” he said. “And, they hit both.”
Danny Espinosa had three hits and three RBIs and Andrelton Simmons had three hits and two RBIs for the Angels, who got two runs batted in by C.J. Cron .
Detroit relievers Arcenio Leon and Daniel Stumpf combined. Nick Castellanos extended his hitting streak to a season-long seven games with three hits, including a solo homer in the second, and had two RBIs for the Tigers.
Rays 7, White Sox 5
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Derek Norris homered in consecutive innings and Jake Odorizzi pitched into the seventh, leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Peter Bourjos and Colby Rasmus also homered for the Rays. The White Sox, who have lost seven of eight, came back from a 6-0 deficit with the help of home runs by Avisail Garcia and Todd Frazier. They got the potential tying run to third base with one out in the eighth before Alex Colome came in for a four-out save, his 17th of the season.
Rasmus’ eighth home run provided the Rays with an insurance run in the eighth.
Yankees 9, Red Sox 1
NEW YORK — Gary Sanchez homered twice to drive in five runs and the New York Yankees pounded David Price again in a victory.
Michael Pineda (7-3) rebounded from a rough outing with seven brilliant innings, and New York took two of three from its rival in their first series at Yankee Stadium this season. On the strength of stingy starts by CC Sabathia and Pineda, the Yankees outscored Boston 17-1 in the final two games and increased their AL East lead to three games over the second-place Red Sox.
Making his third appearance this season since recovering from a strained left elbow, Price (1-1) was tagged for six runs, eight hits and four walks in five innings. He served up both of Sanchez’s homers, a three-run shot in the third and a two-run drive in the fifth.
Price wasn’t sharp in a ballpark that’s been nothing but trouble for him lately. He threw back his head in disgust after giving up Sanchez’s three-run homer and dropped to 14-11 with a 4.70 ERA versus New York, which batted .373 against him last year. He has a 3.01 career ERA against all other big league teams (backslash)s.
Price was 1-3 with a 7.89 ERA in five outings against the Yankees last season, including 0-3 with a 8.10 ERA in three starts in the Bronx. He has made 36 career starts against the Yankees, 11 more than he has versus any other team.
Pineda yielded four hits and struck out eight.