The Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Friday night with a score of 2-1.
The first game of a highly touted series was about as exciting as advertised. Many star players saw action: Luis Severino was on the bump for the Yankees; of course the Yankees had Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez in action; and the Angels had Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.
Each team also boasted a potential American League Rookie of the Year: Angels P/DH Shohei Ohtani and Yankees 2B Gleyber Torres. was a star-studded affair.
LHP Andrew Heaney was on the hill for the Angels. Many expected the Yankees to tee off on the lefty, but that was not the case. Heaney held the Yankees in check through 6.1 innings, allowing 1 run, 4 hits, and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts.
That one run came on a bizarre play in the bottom of the second inning. Take a look:
Gleyber doesn't just hit dingers…here's a wide view of his infield single that plated the Yankees' first run. #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/XpGDlmzgvX
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 26, 2018
Gleyber Torres ripped a hard grounder to third base. Zack Cozart wanted to beat Aaron Hicks to the bag to force the end of the inning—but he figured out too late that he wasn’t going to beat the speedy Hicks, so Cozart tried to change gears and throw it across to get Gleyber Torres out at first.
The ball got away from Pujols at first, a run scored, though Pujols did throw down Hicks at home to end the inning.
The next inning, the Angels’ offense started cooking. With two outs, Upton hit a single to right center, and Kole Calhoun tried to score from second. Here’s what happened:
Keep running on the Yanks. It's fun. pic.twitter.com/LZTF5zobIn
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) May 26, 2018
Of course, this was not the only time Judge gunned down a runner. In the top of the seventh (at that point still a tie game, 1-1), Judge threw out Martin Maldonado as he tried to stretch a single into a double. The Yankees outfielder made it look easy:
tossing the ball back in during batting practice or gunning down a runner? pic.twitter.com/J293xEhiOM
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) May 26, 2018
When will runners learn not to run on Judge anymore? His defense is super underrated.
Severino wasn’t completely dominant, but he still pitched his way out of a couple jams. His only major blemish was a Trout homer down the right field line in the top of the fifth. Of course, that’s just Trout; how much can we really blame Severino?
Severino’s line: 6 IP, 1 run, 4 hits, 4 walks, with 5 strikeouts. At the end of the day, he adds another start where he allowed just one run. He’s very good at that.
Most Starts with 1 R or Fewer Allowed Since 2017
Luis Severino 22
Max Scherzer 20
Justin Verlander 20— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) May 26, 2018
The decisive shot came in the bottom half of the seventh when Gleyber Torres smacked his ninth home run of the year to right center field. The solo shot gave the Bombers a 2-1 lead—and that lead stuck.
Torres has homered in four straight games. The kid is unreal.
Gleyber Torres (21 yrs, 163 days) is the youngest player in AL history to HR in 4 straight games.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) May 26, 2018
Chad Green came in for the Yankees and pitched a scoreless seventh inning. He earned the win.
David Robertson has struggled, but looked closer to himself in the eighth inning. Even so, Robertson walked Justin Upton, so Aaron Boone turned to left-handed fire-baller Aroldis Chapman to face Ohtani and get the four out save. It was Chapman’s first time this season entering a game with runners on base.
Ohtani grounded in to the shift, the Angels went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and that was the ballgame.
Chapman threw 18 pitches in 1.1 innings. He’s probably available for Saturday night if they need him—since he’s had so many days off—but I’m sure Boone would prefer a blowout tomorrow so he doesn’t have to use him.
Tommy Kahnle was activated from the DL before tonight’s game, so I would expect him to make an appearance tomorrow as well. Sonny Gray will start.
Greg Bird is expected to be activated from the DL. He’ll likely make his season debut tomorrow. Many now expect Tyler Austin to be sent down to AAA as the corresponding move, especially since the Yankees released 1B Adam Lind Friday.
Featured Image via: Flickr/Keith Allison
