New York Yankees Recap: Yankees complete sweep of Angels with 6-2 victory, streak at 6

By Caleb Gebrewold | Jun 7, 2015

The New York Yankees and CC Sabathia were taking on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and fellow southpaw CJ Wilson. Sabathia, who has struggled all year and hasn’t won a game at Yankee Stadium since September 20, 2013, allowed the Angels to jump out to a 2-0 first inning lead, courtesy of back-to-back home runs by Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, who passed Jimmie Foxx for sole possession of 17th place all-time with his 535th home run, also moving within one of Yankees legend Mickey Mantle.

With Sabathia’s season long struggles this looked like it was going to be a long day, especially after the Angels began to threaten in the third. Erick Aybar led off with a single, and after yet another Chase Headley error, they had Trout at first and Aybar at third. After a Pujols fly out that failed to bring Aybar home, Sabathia got David Freese to fly out to Carlos Beltran, who threw Trout out at second base before Aybar could cross home plate.

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Following the great play by Beltran and shortstop Didi Gregorius, who dove to tag Trout out before the run scored, the momentum seemed to switch in the Yankees favor. Jose Pirela led off the bottom half of the inning with a double, and two batters later Gregorius drove him in, picking up the RBI on a ground out.

Sabathia also settled down after Beltran’s throw, settling into a nice groove, picking up his 2,500th career strikeout in the top of the fifth, becoming just the ninth southpaw in MLB history to pile up that many strikeouts.

In the bottom half of the fifth, Chris Young, who has slumped badly lately, tied the game up with his seventh homer, and first since May 2nd.

After Wilson retired Pirela, John Ryan Murphy and Gregorius reached on back to back singles, giving the Yankees an opportunity to take their first lead. Brett Gardner came through, hitting his fifth home run of the year, a line drive to right field, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Sabathia found himself in his first real trouble since the third after striking out Trout, allowing Pujols to single and walking Freese on a ball four call he didn’t agree with. Sabathia got Kole Calhoun to ground into a double play, ending the inning.

While leaving the field Sabathia was irate with home plate umpire Dan Bellino over the call to Freese, and Bellino sent Sabathia and Yankees manager Joe Girardi both to the showers early. Sabathia pitched strong before being tossed, lasting six innings and allowing only two runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out seven. Both of Sabathia’s runs allowed came on first inning home runs, and he left in line for the win.

Justin Wilson replaced Sabathia in the seventh, and after a leadoff walk, he settled down, picking up a double play, and another ground out, keeping Sabathia’s lead in tact. Jose Pirela led off the bottom of the seventh with his first career home run, a no-doubt about it shot to left field. Pirela’s strong day could result in him seeing more playing time at second base, something many fans would welcome.

Dellin Betances came on to work the eighth, while Pirela was replaced by Stephen Drew, and Beltran was replaced by Ramon Flores, shifting Young to right field. After a leadoff flyout to Johnny Giavotella, Betances struck out Aybar and Trout for a 1-2-3 inning, lowering his ERA to 0.29.

After a quiet bottom of the eighth, Andrew Miller, who hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, came on to work the ninth inning. Miller struck out Pujols, Freese, and Calhoun in order, completing the sweep, and extending the winning streak to six games.

Next: New York Yankees Editorial: If Masahiro Tanaka stays healthy, Yankees could be in AL East drivers seat

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