NEW YORK—Nestor Cortes kept Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout off the bases, Jose Trevino hit a three-run double in a five-run first inning and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 9–3 Thursday, April 20, to take two of three in the star-filled matchup.
Ohtani and Trout each went 0 for 3 against Cortes, a fellow All-Star.
Ohtani walked against Wandy Peralta with two outs in the seventh and Trout followed with an infield single that second baseman Oswald Peraza knocked down on the center field grass. Anthony Rendon, still without a home run this season, stranded the bases loaded with a flyout.
Aaron Judge singled to help spark the first-inning rally, a day after hitting a two-run homer and saving three runs by robbing Ohtani of a home run and denying Brandon Drury with a diving catch.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa made a pair of diving catches in center and hit a two-run single in a three-run seventh, and Anthony Rizzo went 3 for 3 with a pair of walks, raising his average to .344.
New York (12–7) has won five of its first six series along with a four-game split against Minnesota, just the third time since 1957 the Yankees didn’t lose any of their first six series and first time since 2003. The Yankees improved to 10–0 this year when facing a series loss.
Cortes (3–0) gave up three runs and four hits in six innings, ending his team-record-tying streak of nine straight starts allowing two runs or fewer. He wore pink patterned spikes as he switches to a new model for every start this season.
Patrick Sandoval (1–1) needed 39 pitches to get through the first, then settled down for three scoreless innings. He allowed five runs and four hits, tying his career high with six walks.
Angels pitchers walked 10 in the game and 22 in the series.
Rizzo hit a go-ahead single, Peraza walked with the bases loaded and Trevino hit a double that short-hopped the left-field wall as the Yankees set nine batters to the plate in the first.
Held hitless for four innings as shadows crossed the infield in the late-afternoon start, the Angels closed to 5–2 in the fifth on rookie Logan O’Hoppe’s RBI single and Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly. After Cortes walked Luis Rengifo starting the seventh, O’Hoppe greeted Ron Marinaccio with a run-scoring double that pulled the Angels within 5–3.
Power Outage
Rendon is hitting .269 (7 for 26) with a double since he was hit on the back by a pitch from Toronto’s Jordan Romano on April 9.Web Gems
Kiner-Falefa preserved a no-hit bid when he ran in to make a diving backhand catch on Hunter Renfroe for the final out of the fourth, then sprawled for a backhand grab in left-center with two on in the fifth, holding Ward to a sacrifice fly and saving a run. Peraza slid on the right-field grass to rob Rengifo of a hit in the eighth.Timer Trouble
There were four pitch clock violations, by Cortes, Peralta, the Yankees’ Will Weissert and the Angels’ Aaron Loup.Trainer’s Room
Yankees: LHP Carlos Rodón (strained left forearm) was to have a CT scan of his back, which has bothered him during the past week. CF Harrison Bader (strained left oblique) will start a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment on Friday at Double-A Somerset.Up Next
Angels: Ohtani (2–0, 0.86 ERA) starts on three days’ rest in a homestand opener against Kansas City and RHP Taylor Clarke (1–0) after Ohtani’s outing at Boston was cut short by rain.Yankees: RHP Domingo Germán (1–1) starts Friday night in the opener of the first series this season against AL East rival Toronto, which pitches Yusei Kikuchi (2–0).
