YANKEES TAKE 2 OUT OF 3 AGAINST ANGELS

The Yankees were winning the first game of the series against the Angels, 3-2 until the 8th inning when Luke Weaver gave up a few singles. Clay Holmes came in to get him out of a jam but the Angels scored 2 more runs when the inning kept going after a fielding error by Anthony Rizzo and a double by Taylor Ward. Juan Soto was 2-5 for the night, with a monster solo home run in his first at bat and an RBI single in the fourth inning.  Anthony Volpe had a couple of hits to continue his hitting streak. The Yankees tried for 2 runs in the fifth inning off a double by Austin Wells. Rizzo scored but Gleyber Torres was thrown out at home. Nestor Cortes pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up 2 runs. Griffin Canning pitched for the Angels and did about the same; pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs. With the score 4-3, Angels, reliever Matt Moore got the win and Luke Weaver got the loss.

Aaron Boone was ejected in the first inning and Luis Gil strikes out 9 in game 2 against the Angels. Gil pitched eight innings, giving up only one run and two hits. Tyler Anderson pitched five innings for the Angels, giving up four hits and one run. The Yankees’ first run was a solo home run in the fourth inning by Alex Verdugo. In the seventh inning Anthony Volpe continued his hitting streak with a triple that he ended up scoring on due to a throwing error by the Angels’ second baseman. The loan run by the Angels was a home run by Logan O’Hoppe in the seventh inning. The Angels attempted to take the win in the ninth inning putting runners on first and second with no outs but Clay Holmes got out of the inning safely and earned his 16th save. The Yankees won 2-1.

In other news, Clarke Schmidt was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain, which he may have injured on Sunday against the Padres. It’s looking like he’s going to be out until the All Star break. The Yankees will now be short a pitcher until Gerrit Cole comes back. Cole is on pace to make a rehab start next week possibly. Some reports are saying Schmidt might be out even longer.

Last game of the series saw Carlos Rodon on the mound against Patrick Sandoval. Rodon pitched six innings, gave up 3 hits and 3 runs and struck out 5. Sandoval also pitched six innings, gave up 2 hits, 2 runs and struck out 7. Logan O’Hoppe had his second home run of the series in the second inning and Aaron Judge responded with a two run home run in the fourth inning. Adam Cimber came in to pitch the seventh inning for the Angels and gave up a few hits and walked 4 making the bases loaded twice. DJ LeMahieu and Alex Verdugo scored on two of those walks. Then Juan Soto hit a 3-run triple. Rodon gave up his second run on a double by Kevin Pillar, which put the Yankees up 7-2. Caleb Ferguson replaced Rodon and gave up a single which was another earned run against Rodon. In the eighth inning, LeMahieu walked and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Trevino.  The bullpen for both teams got through the rest of the eighth and ninth innings and the Yankees won 8-3.

Judge is now the 2nd Yankee to have at least 12 home runs and 12 doubles in one calendar month. The other Yankee to do so was Lou Gehrig. Volpe was 0-4 on Thursday night, ending his hitting streak.

The Yankees head into the weekend with a 3 game series against the Giants.