ANAHEIM, Calif.—Luis Gil struck out nine and won his sixth consecutive start, continuing a record run by starting pitchers, Alex Verdugo homered, and the New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Angels 2–1 on Wednesday night, May 29.
New York’s Anthony Volpe extended his hitting streak to 21 games with two hits, tying the longest run in the major leagues this season. He also scored a run.
Logan O'Hoppe hit a solo homer for the Angels, who have dropped four of their past five games.
Despite the low-scoring game, there was plenty of drama, both early and late.
Yankees Manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the first inning after baserunner interference was called on Juan Soto. In the ninth, the Angels had runners on first and second with none out before Willie Calhoun grounded into a double play and O’Hoppe grounded out to third.
“It was a little weird to start, but also a really fun game to watch, albeit nerve-wracking,” Mr. Boone said.
Gil (7–1) allowed one run on two hits in eight innings, extending the Yankees’ starting staff’s major league-record run to 16 straight games in which they have gone at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer.
Since May 12, New York starters have gone 12–4 and allowed only 11 earned runs in 99 innings for a 1.00 earned-run average. Opposing teams have a .158 batting average.
“The plan from the get-go was to be able to spot the fastball up, mixed with secondary pitches and to be able to command pitches in the strike zone,” Gil said through an interpreter. “I think when we’re able to do that, it allows you to have a good rhythm and go deep into the game.”
Clay Holmes survived the early traffic in the ninth for his 16th save.
After the Yankees had an unassisted double play turned against them in the first inning, due to the baserunner-interference call on Soto, and a second-inning rally end due to Anthony Rizzo being hit by a batted ball from teammate DJ LeMahieu, Verdugo drove an elevated sinker from Tyler Anderson (5–5) into the stands in right field.
Volpe made it 2–0 in the seventh when he hit a triple into the right-field corner and scored when Angels second baseman Luis Rengifo’s throw to third went into the camera well.
Gil had retired 11 straight batters until O’Hoppe’s seventh-inning drive off the auxiliary scoreboard just above the wall in right-center field.
“We hung in the game. We had the tying and winning run on. We just didn’t come through,” Angels Manager Ron Washington said.
New York appeared as if it was going to break things open early when its first three batters got aboard, only to be done in by an unconventional double play.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a high popup near the second-base bag. Umpires called an infield fly, but Soto bumped into Angels shortstop Zach Neto while trying to get back to second base, causing Neto to lose track of the ball, which landed in the infield.
Second-base umpire Vic Carapazza ruled that Soto interfered with Neto, resulting in the second out.
The Yankees had runners on first and second with one out in the second, but LeMahieu’s grounder hit Rizzo as he was running to third for an automatic out.
