About Last Night: Angels 4, Yankees 3

About Last Night: Angels 4, Yankees 3

By Derek McAdam

May 29, 2024

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The New York Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Angels by a score of 4-3 last night, dropping their record to 37-19 on the young season as they continue their West Coast road trip. Here’s a recap of last night’s game.

Quick Stats: W: Matt Moore (1-1) 1 IP, 1 K

                     L: Luke Weaver (3-1) 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R (0 ER), 3 K

                     S: Carlos Esteves (8)

- Anthony Volpe’s hitting streak now sits at 20 games after his multi-hit game last night.

- Juan Soto’s 15th home run of the season was also the Yankees’ 83rd home run of the season, the most in MLB.

The Big Story: After taking two of three games from the San Diego Padres over the weekend, the Yankees looked to get off on the right foot against the Angels, and they seemed to do just that...for seven innings. In the eighth, it all came apart and a win turned into a loss.

DJ LeMahieu made his season debut for the Yankees after a foot injury kept him sidelined for the first two months of the season.

Details:

In the 1st, Soto hit a towering home run down the right field line to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  However, this lead would quickly be erased when Kevin Pillar hit a two-run home run off Nestor Cortes Jr. in the bottom of the 1st, giving the Angels a 2-1 lead.

In the 4th, with runners on first and second, Soto blooped a RBI single into left field to tie the game at 2-2. In the next inning, Austin Wells hit an RBI double to score Anthony Rizzo and give the Yankees a 3-2 lead, although Gleyber Torres was thrown out at home trying to extend the lead.

Cortes finished the game with 5.1 innings pitched, which marked the 15th straight game in which a Yankee starter went 5.0 innings or more and giving up two runs or less. This is the longest streak in baseball since 1893. Yes… you read that correctly. 1893.

In the 8th, the Angels were able to get a lead-off single from pinch-hitter Willie Calhoun. However, with two outs, Luis Rengifo reached on a Rizzo error to put runners on first and second with two outs. Clay Holmes was brought in to get the final four outs, but the first pitch he threw to Taylor Ward was ripped into left field to score both runners, giving the Angels a 4-3 lead.

The Yankees went down 1-2-3 against Carlos Estevez in the 9th, securing the Angels’ win.

Player of the Game: Taylor Ward delivered the big hit that gave the Angels a come-from-behind victory, so he will get the honor for this game.

Notable Performances: Volpe and Soto both had multi-hit games for the Yankees, but the Angels’ bullpen absolutely shut the Yankees down, allowing no base runners in four innings. Kevin Pillar also had a three-hit night and is having a bit of a “career revival” with the Angels.

Better to Forget: It was not a good game for Rizzo, who has been slumping at the plate and committed the big error that ultimately resulted in the loss.

My Take: The Yankees aren’t going to win them all, and they’re not going to win them all while holding a lead after seven innings either. It’s only their second loss this season when holding a lead after seven innings, the other coming last Monday when Clay Holmes blew a save against Seattle. It’s going to happen.

The decision for third base coach Luis Rojas to send Torres is definitely going to be a decision that gets talked about for the next few hours, especially considering the Yankees lost by one run. But I don’t have a huge issue with that decision. It was a very good relay throw to the cut off man and the play at the plate was definitely closer than I thought it was going to be. Sometimes those decisions work out, sometimes they don’t. It’s one of those situations where it didn’t work.

But what bothers me more was that error that Rizzo committed. It wasn’t necessarily a routine play, but it wasn’t something absolutely complex. I agreed with the scorer’s decision to give Rizzo an error, and this brings up a concern of mine regarding the veteran first baseman.

Ever since his injury last season, Rizzo has not been his usual self at first base. We saw it at the plate last year, but even in the field, it hasn’t been great. Rizzo’s four errors this season are tied for the most in MLB among first basemen. I will say that Rizzo has also had a tougher job fielding hoppers, especially coming from Oswaldo Cabrera, who hasn’t been the best at third base. But it seems like it’s simpler plays that Rizzo is just not taking care of.

Nonetheless, the Yankees just need to brush this loss off and move on to the next game. And they’ll be right back at it tonight in hopes of forcing a rubber game.

What’s Next?: The Yankees will continue their three-game series against the Angels tonight. Luis Gil is set to start for the Yankees, while Tyler Anderson is scheduled to go for the Angels. First pitch is scheduled for 9:38 p.m. EST from Angel Stadium.