Judge hits go-ahead two-run home run in eighth to give Yankees 5-3 victory for sixth straight win

The Yankees entered their game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday night riding a five game winning streak that was highlighted by an explosive three game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees looked to keep the momentum rolling heading to the West Coast with a three game series against the Angels. Looking to turn his season around, the Yankees sent Masahiro Tanaka to the mound and he kept the team around long enough for Aaron Judge to hit a two-run bomb in the eighth inning to lead the Yankees to a 5-3 victory.

Credit: Jae C. Hong AP Photo

Monday’s pitching match up pitted Angels youngster RHP Alex Meyer against the Yankees' struggling ace Tanaka. Following his latest bad outing against the Red Sox last week, Tanaka was pushed back from his scheduled start against the Orioles on Sunday in hopes that the lighter hitting Angels would pose an easier match up.

Meyer entered Monday’s game with mixed results on the season thus far, having struck out 41 batters but also having walked 24 in 35 innings. His work Monday night stayed pretty true to that form. The Yankees had multiple runners on base in each of the first three innings but were only able to push across one run on an RBI single by Didi Gregorius in the top of the third. 

Credit: Jae C. Hong AP Photo

They got to Meyer again in the fifth inning and it was Meyer’s walks that hurt him. A walk to Judge with one out followed by a two out hit by Starlin Castro and another RBI single by Gregorius pushed across the Yankees’ second run of the game, knocking Meyer from the game in the process.  All together Meyer pitched 4.2 innings, allowing five hits, two runs, striking out five and walking five.

Tanaka came into tonight’s game with a 6.55 ERA and having lost his last five starts. The Yankees were hoping that the extra day of rest he was given by being skipped would help him get on track and those hopes were rewarded with Tanaka’s best start in several weeks. When Tanaka gave up a solo home run to Kole Calhoun with one out in the bottom of the first inning I’m sure you were all groaning like I was, but after that he settled down and gave the Yankees what they were looking for, at one point retiring 13 Angels in a row in the middle innings. He seemed to run out of gas in the seventh and left the game after allowing his second run. In total, Tanaka turned in 6.2 IP, four hits, two walks, eight strikeouts and three runs, the last of which was allowed after Tyler Clippard relieved Tanaka and allowed the inherited runner to score. Although he did not get a win Tanaka finally turned in a performance that could give fans some hope going forward. 

Credit: Jae C. Hong AP Photo

Offensively, this was definitely the Yankees’ most boring game in a while and a fairly frustrating one. The Yankees left 12 runners on base through the first seven innings and watched the Angels tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Just moments later however in the top of the eighth inning they jumped back on top thanks to none other than Aaron Judge. In the bottom of the seventh, Judge badly overthrew a cutoff man and allowed Cameron Maybin to take an extra base following a hit. That didn't come back to bite them but Judge made up for that gaffe anyway, launching his 22nd home run of the year to right field off of Bud Norris  

From there on it was left to the Yankees' bullpen and they were able to slam the door, After recording two outs in the eighth and mixing in a walk, Clippard was lifted from the game and Joe Girardi looked to Dellin Betances for the four out save. Dellin was able to record those four outs without incident and secure the Yankees' sixth win in a row.

Winning Pitcher: Tyler Clippard (1-3, 1.73 ERA): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Blown Save

Losing Pitcher: Jose Alvarez (0-3, 4.63 ERA): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K

Save: Dellin Betances (6)

Notables
Didi Gregorius: 4-4, 2 RBI, BB (Currently riding a 14 game hitting streak)
Aaron Judge: 2-4, HR (22), 3 R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
Starlin Castro: 2-4, BB
Chase Headley: 1-5, RBI
Aaron Hicks: 1-5, 2B, R, 2 K

The Yankees and the Angels will do it again on Tuesday night, with the first pitch scheduled for 10:07 PM on the YES Network. The probable starters are CC Sabathia (7-2, 3.66 ERA) who has won five straight starts and JC Ramirez (6-4, 4.33 ERA).


Article by Matt Graziano
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