Sabathia goes down, Headley finds his stride, but Yankees fall to Angels 3-2 on walk-off single in 11th inning

The first-place New York Yankees embarked on a seven-game trip to the west coast Monday night. With the struggling Masahiro Tanaka taking the hill after getting an extra day off, the Bombers were able to escape with a 5-3 victory courtesy of Aaron Judge. In tonight's game, Chase Headley was the primary contributor on the offensive side, but the Yankees saw the former Yankee Eric Young Jr. hurt them in a big way with a game tying home run, and walk-off single in the 11th inning to lift the Angels over the Yankees by a score of 3-2.

AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong

C.C. Sabathia (7-2, 3.66 ERA) took the mound for the Yankees on Tuesday night and was looking top continue his success of five straight victories dating back to May 9th against the Cincinnati Reds. For the Angels, hard throwing right hander JC Ramirez (6-4, 4.33 ERA) took the mound looking for a solid outing after struggling against the Tigers giving up four runs in just five innings of play.

AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong

For the Yankees, Sabathia has been rejuvenated. While pitching in front of friends and family the Bombers were hoping for a strong outing from the big lefty. Sabathia was rolling early, and had his slider working all night. In the bottom of the fourth inning however, on a routine ground ball to shortstop, first baseman Chris Carter missed the catch, and allowed Andrelton Simmons to reach on an error. With Simmons on second base, C.J. Cron singled on a line drive to left field which put the Angels up 1-0. During the top of the fifth inning Chase Headley hit a ground rule double to right field, and Brett Gardner singled on a ground ball to center field which tied the game up 1-1 after five.

Getty Images/ Sean M. Haffey

During the bottom of the fifth inning, concern struck the Bombers. Sabathia exited the game with a strained left hamstring after just four innings pitched so they had the concern about his health, and how they would navigate through the rest of the game in terms of the bullpen. The Yankees do not have a day off until Monday, so pushing the right buttons is necessary to not burn anyone out. In the top of the sixth inning the Yankees threatened again with a leadoff walk to Judge, his major league leading 40th of the year, but were unable to score and the game remained tied heading into the bottom of the sixth.

The Bombers were finally able to grab the lead during the seventh inning. Headley homered on a fly ball to center field, his first since April 19th. Chris Carter would follow the home run with a walk, and Aaron Hicks also worked a walk, but Judge struck out looking to end the inning. Adam Warren replaced Giovanny Gallegos in the seventh inning, and after giving up a leadoff single to Simmons, he struck out Luis Valbuena to conserve the Yankees lead, 2-1 after seven.

AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong

With Tyler Clippard coming into the game during the eighth inning, he surrendered a lead off home run to Eric Young Jr. While he was able to avoid further trouble, the damage had been done and the game was tied 2-2, heading into the ninth. After the Bombers failed to score in the top of the ninth, Jonathan Holder came into the game for the bottom if the ninth inning. Simmons singled on a line drive to center field, and Martin Maldonado hit a hard double on a fly ball to left field. With runners on second and third with two gone, Chasen Shreve got out of the jam and forced the game into extras.

During the tenth inning, Shreve was able to work out of a Jam with two runners on base, a real gutsy performance. In the 11th inning for the Bombers, Sanchez worked a walk, and Didi Gregorius doubled on a line drive to right field. This hit extended what is a career best, 15 game hit streak for Gregorious. With two runners on and one out, Mike Morin intentionally walked Headley to load the bases. Carter swung at the first pitch by new pitcher Keynan Middleton and popped it up to the third baseman. Gardner followed with another pop up as the Bombers left the bases loaded.

Missed opportunities will be the story in this game. The Yankees failed to capitalize all game long. After a walk to Simmons, and Cliff Pennington, Eric Young Jr. singled on a line drive off of the pitcher Ben Heller to win the game for the Angels 3-2.

Tomorrow night the Yankees wrap up their series in Anaheim, with Michael Pineda (7-3, 3.39 ERA) taking the hill looking to have his second quality start in a row coming off a solid outing against the rival Red Sox. For the Angels, Matt Shoemaker (6-3, 4.22 ERA) gets the ball and has been solid as of late, winning his last two starts, the last one being against the Houston Astros.

Winning Pitcher: Keynan Middleton (2-0, 2.65 ERA) 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

Losing Pitcher: Chasen Shreve (1-1, 1.47 ERA) 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Notables:

Chase Headley: 3-4, 2 R, RBI (26), HR (4), BB

Brett Gardner: 1-5, RBI (30)

Chris Carter: 1-4

Aaron Judge: 0-4, BB

Article By: Randy Hancock

Follow @randy06
Follow @bronxbomberball