Yankees 2, Angels 1: Bombers sweep the Halos, extend winning streak to nine

Make it nine wins in a row! This team is unstoppable. You have to go back to 2012 for the last time the Yankees won nine in a row, en route to a 10 game winning streak. Tonight’s victory came courtesy of a brilliant outing from CC Sabathia, a quality bullpen showing, and one clutch hit from Gary Sanchez. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Bombers took this one by the score of 2 - 1.

For the quick rundown, here’s tonight’s box score. The full live blog can be found below.

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Ninth Inning

The Angels turn to Cam Bedrosian in the ninth. He made quick work of Stanton and Sanchez. Gary was particularly unhappy with his strike out, as he slammed his bat on the ground afterwards. Hicks, however, kept the inning alive with a double. Unfortunately Walker couldn’t capitalize. It’s up to Aroldis Chapman to close this one out.

A “Let’s go Yankees” chant just erupted. This is bizzaro world and I love it. I guess now’s a good time to leave you with this clip.

As for the bottom half of the inning, Chapman got a quick first out before losing Young on a walk. Rivera struck out to bring Kinsler to the plate. After a lengthy at-bat, Kinsler struck out swinging to end the game!

Eighth Inning

Jose Alvarez comes on to pitch for the Angels. He gets to deal with the top of the Yankees lineup. His game plan seems to be induce fly balls, as that’s how he retired Gardner and Judge. Bold strategy with this offense. Gregorius tried to shake things up by hitting a ball on the ground. He didn’t seem to have any trouble running, which means I can breathe normally again.

Chad Green takes over and he draws the heart of the Angels order. Things are off to an inauspicious start, as Trout worked a walk. Upton lifted a ball into shallow center, but Torres got a beat on it and made a terrific catch. The right-hander is now engaged in a lengthy battle with Pujols, and in many ways, this feels like the at-bat of the game. Pujols just crushed a fastball, deep to left field, and Gardner makes the play! He falls down while doing so, too! What is with that?

The inning isn’t over, though, as Simmons hits a single to put Trout in scoring position. Cozart, however, struck out to end the eighth. For what it’s worth, a ton of Yankees fans are at Angel Stadium. This sounds like a home game.

Seventh Inning

Hicks drew a walk to start the inning. He was eliminated on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Walker. The Halos tried for the double play, but the throw to first base went wide. Andujar got the full Angel Hernandez experience in his plate appearance. Torres, on the other hand, struck out a little more conventionally. That was a disappointing inning, but it looks like Sabathia is coming back out for more!

CC took the mound and went right to business. He struck out Marte before forcing Chris Young to fly out. Rene Rivera hit a groundball to shortstop, but Didi couldn’t make the play. He slipped and fell to the ground. I’m a little concerned that he was hurt, but Gregorius is up and still playing. Cross your fingers, everyone.

(Sabathia worked around the single and went seven strong. I’m still worried about Didi.)

Sixth Inning

Skaggs got Gregorius to pop up, but that’s all for the left-hander. Scioscia made the call to the bullpen and Justin Anderson is in the game. The rookie reliever struck out Stanton swinging only to earn a consolation prize in the form of the Kraken. Sanchez may have grounded out, but I stand by my segue.

Trout led off the bottom half of the inning and promptly struck out against Sabathia. Upton followed with a base hit, a groundball into the no man’s land portion of the infield. CC and Walker went after the ball, leaving no one free to cover first.

Pujols flicked a single over the reach of Gregorius, allowing Upton to go from first to third. The Angels are looking to break through with Simmons at the plate. A wild pitch allows Upton to score, so it’s now 2 - 1, Yankees.

Simmons remains up, but he popped up for the second out. Sabathia is going to dig in to get out of this inning. Cozart flies out to shallow left and the big left-hander gets it done. The Bombers escape with a one-run lead.

Fifth Inning

For the second time tonight, an interview cut off Andujar’s plate appearance. This time Mike Scioscia proved the culprit. The best Miguel in baseball sadly flew out. Torres followed with a groundball to third base, and while the umpire ruled Gleyber out, he beat the throw. The Yankees challenged and the call was overturned.

With a runner on and one out, Gardner made contact and sent a ball for a ride to center field. He just didn’t get enough of it and Trout reeled it in. Judge had a chance to extend the Yankees’ lead, but a high pitch on the outside corner was called for strike three. The umpires have really worked Judge over this series.

I’m running out of ways to describe how good Sabathia is tonight. He continues to mow down the Angels and he’s making it look easy. The Big Guy is awesome.

Fourth Inning

On the first pitch of the inning, Gregorius had to duck and cover. Skaggs left a ball up way too close Sir Didi’s helmet. While the Yankees shortstop couldn’t get anything going, Stanton sure could. He lined a rocket of a double to left field, breaking up the no-hitter. Enter Sanchez, who ruined the shutout with a monster home run!

Yankees take a 2 - 0 lead. Sabathia, who exchanged words with Angel Hernandez between innings. will face Pujols, Andrelton Simmons, and Zack Cozart in the bottom half.

After a pair of groundouts, Cozart worked a two-out single. That brought Jefry Marte to the plate, who grounded out to third base himself. Fine work, CC!

Third Inning

This frame opens with one of those annoying picture-in-picture interviews. It’s A-Rod chatting it up with Albert Pujols. That’s cool and all, but it just cost us the chance to watch a Miguel Andujar at-bat. He grounded out, but I’m salty. That could also be due to the fact Skaggs is picking apart the Yankees batters. Gleyber Torres drew a walk, but Gardner and Judge both struck out. Sigh.

Sabathia, on the other hand, escaped a jam. He allowed a two-out double to Ian Kinsler. Trout then followed by shattering his bat, sending shrapnel right towards Gregorius. As a result, Didi made an errant throw to first, resulting in runners on the corners with two outs. Justin Upton grounded out to end the inning, keeping things scoreless through three.

More important, however, is confirmation from A-Rod that the southpaw’s summer parties are hella fun. I want in.

Second Inning

Giancarlo Stanton leads things off with a walk for the Yankees. Gary Sanchez is up and A-Rod has a great story about their many get togethers. That was the best part of the plate appearance, though, as the Kraken struck out. Aaron Hicks and Neil Walker couldn’t muster anything against Skaggs either. That’s bad. Sabathia worked a 1-2-3 inning though. That’s good!

First Inning

Tyler Skaggs and Brett Gardner are ready. First pitch comes in as a ball and we’re underway at Angel Stadium. Alex Rodriguez just suggested that the All-Star Game’s lineup will look pretty similar to tonight’s Yankees squad. That’s cool!

You know what’s not cool? Gardner was just called out for running outside of the basepaths. He tapped a weak groundball to first base and tried a little too hard to get out of the way of the tag. I’m not convinced he was, but you can’t review that play. Ah well. It didn’t matter much anyway because Skaggs got Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius out, too.

Meanwhile CC Sabathia looks solid. He allowed a one-out walk to Mike Trout, but otherwise made quick work of the Angels. Sabathia even got the chance to field his position! Good first inning for the left-hander.

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Background Information

The Yankees and Angels wrap up their three-game series tonight with a little Sunday Night Baseball action. The good news is that it’s not a 10 PM EST first pitch. The bad news? These games have a tendency to run long. We might as well stick together for it and have a live blog!

Tonight’s pitching matchup should be a good one. CC Sabathia will draw Tyler Skaggs in a battle of left-handers. I previewed these two starters earlier in the week. The Cliff Notes version basically boils down to this: Skaggs represents the Angels’ best starter outside of Shohei Ohtani. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, but he works with a particularly nasty changeup in his four-pitch arsenal.

As an added incentive to tune in, tonight’s commentary booth features Alex Rodriguez! Booth-Rod will get to drop some knowledge on the Yankees, and his insight is invaluable. Remember how good he was during the playoffs? I’m excited.

Lineups

How to Watch

Location: Angel Stadium

First pitch: 8:07 PM EST

TV channel: ESPN

Online streaming: WatchESPN app

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (full listings)