ANAHEIM — In the end, the Angels turned the tables on the New York Yankees.
Taylor Ward’s two-out, two-run double against Yankees closer Clay Holmes in the eighth inning put the Angels on top in their 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
Ward had gotten the chance to hit in the inning because of an error by Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
For much of the night, the Yankees were clinging to a one-run lead they had built on two runs scored after misplays by Angels infielders.
It ended up as a rare confluence of events for the Angels, winning a close game at home. The Angels are now 7-19 at home and 8-19 in games decided by two runs or fewer.
Embattled Angels closer Carlos Estévez got the job done with a perfect ninth, securing his eighth save of the season.
The winning rally began when pinch-hitter Willie Calhoun led off the eighth with a single. Two outs later, pinch-runner Mickey Moniak was at first when Luis Rengifo hit a grounder to the right of Rizzo, who couldn’t make the play.
The Yankees then brought in Holmes to try for a four-out save. Ward greeted him with a double over the head of left fielder Alex Verdugo, driving in two runs.
The rally took Griffin Canning off the hook for a loss on a night when he gave up three runs in five innings.
Canning’s outing – three runs allowed in five innings – could have been a lot better and it also could have been a lot worse.
Canning allowed plenty of hard contact, even beyond the 424-foot homer that Juan Soto hit in the first inning. The Yankees hit several other balls to the warning track.
Still, Canning was throwing strikes and making the Yankees put the ball in play, rather than walking them.
The problem was that his defense failed to handle some of those balls properly in the fourth and fifth innings, leading to two more runs.
In the fourth, second baseman Kyren Paris backhanded a grounder but then he couldn’t hold on to the ball. He picked it up and flipped it to shortstop Zach Neto covering second, but it was too late to get what would have been the third out of the inning.
An inning later, Anthony Rizzo hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Luis Rengifo, who should have been able to start an inning-ending double play. Rengifo bobbled the ball and got only one out. Two batters later, the Yankees scored another run.
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The Angels prevented further damage with nice throws from right fielder Jo Adell and Neto to cut down a runner at the plate.
That was all for Canning, but Angels relievers Hunter Strickland, Luis Garcia, Matt Moore and Estévez made the comeback possible by working four perfect innings against the Yankees.
DJ LeMahieu and Soto each hit long fly balls against Estévez in the ninth, but both were routine plays by Pillar and Adell.
Pillar put the Angels on the board first with a two-run homer in the first inning. It was the fifth homer and 20th RBI for Pillar in just 17 games with the Angels.
More to come on this story.
