ANAHEIM – The New York Yankees travelled to Anaheim to take on the Los Angeles Angels in the first game of a seven game road trip on Monday night. Behind the bats of Didi Gregorious and Aaron Judge, the Yankees cruised to a 5-3 victory over a relatively hot Angels’ team.
Gregorious went 4-for-4 and drove in two of the Yankees’ five runs in his effort on Monday night. Following Kole Calhoun’s home run in the first inning, Gregorious responded with an RBI single in the third to even the game at 1-1. He also singled in the fifth inning to make it a 2-1 Yankees’ lead.
Yankees’ starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka rebounded following several shaky outings and struck out eight over 6.2 innings of action. Tanaka allowed three unearned runs (one earned) thanks to an error by Austin Romine and Chase Headley. Headley’s error was his 11th of the season and he has struggled mightily fielding his position at third base. After making 10 errors all of last season, Headley has now matched his total from the preceding year.
With the game knotted at 3-3, Judge came up in the top half of the seventh inning and hit a two run home run to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. Judge’s home run marked his 22nd of the year and his batting average now sits at .347, overall.
Aaron Judge reclaimed the lead for the @Yankees with a 2-run oppo taco in the 8th & earned “MVP” chants… in Anaheim. pic.twitter.com/st1Fi52Trh
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 13, 2017
Dellin Betances notched his sixth save of the season in his 1.1 innings of action as he struck out three and allowed no hits. Betances has done a fine job replacing closer Aroldis Chapman as he has yet to allow a run in the closer role. Betances’ earned run average now sits at 0.45 on the season and his last earned run came on April 8th against the Orioles, his only earned run of the year.
The Yankees’ win on Monday night marked their sixth in a row as they improved to 38-23 on the season. They now sit four games above the second place Boston Red Sox and have a run differential of +117 on the year.
Never stop climbing ?#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/dXSOHFxhCt
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 13, 2017
UP NEXT: CC Sabathia will look to pick up his sixth straight victory when he takes on JC Ramirez on Tuesday night. Sabathia is 5-0 with a 1.11 ERA over his last five starts.
Win- Tyler Clippard
Loss- Jose Alvarez
Save- Dellin Betances
