Aaron Judge hit his 51st home run of the year — a 3-run bomb to right center in the 4th inning that put the Yanks up 7-3 en route to the easy 7-4 win over the Angels in Anaheim.
Andrew Benintendi and Anthony Rizzo hit homers earlier in the game as the Yanks looked like their old 1st-half-of-season selves.
“We came out swinging,” said Aaron Judge afterwards. “In the 1st inning, Benintendi in the 2 hole, solo homer got us on the board. I think just getting that run early kind of allowed everyone to relax and go out there, stick to their approach, and try to drop something in.”
Jameson Taillon got knocked out — physically — by a line shot off his forearm in the 4th — xrays afterwards were negative so he just has a sore forearm.
Greg Weissert was brought in for Taillon — and he pitched 2 shutout innings to get his first Major League win.
The Yanks, now 79-51, maintained their 7 game lead over Tampa, 8 over Toronto, and 11 over Baltimore. The Angels fall to 56-74, 27 games out.
1. Yanks Strike Early
Los Angeles started Mike Mayers, a reliever with a 4.46 ERA making his 2nd start of the season. He wasn’t in as an ‘opener’ — he was in as a traditional ‘spot starter’ and he lasted 4 innings.
The Yanks struck against him in the 1st — Andrew Benintendi — the 2nd batter of the game — hit a 379-foot homer to right and just like that it was 1-0 Yanks.
Benny Blast 💪 pic.twitter.com/MnZAFmFvDp
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 31, 2022
Anthony Rizzo led off the 2nd with a 397-foot homer to right and it was 2-0 Yanks. It was Rizzo’s 30th homer of the season — the second most he’s ever hit — his high is 32.
3⃣0⃣#TeamRizzo pic.twitter.com/wkeFKO4vMw
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 31, 2022
2. Taillon Knocked Out, Physically
But Jameson Taillon gave it all back — allowing a 2-out single to old friend Mike Ford in the bottom of the 2nd, and then a 2-run homer to Max Stassi for a tie game.
Next batter Magneuris Sierra ripped a shot off Taillon’s right forearm — the ball fielded for the final out of the inning. That ended up being it for Taillon — he did not come out for the next inning.
3. Old Friend Ford Helps Yanks Out
In the meantime, Mike Ford’s poor defense came to the fore in the top of the 3rd. DJ LeMahieu walked, Aaron Judge hit a 1-out single, and Anthony Rizzo walked with 2 outs to load the bases.
Josh Donaldson hit a hot grounder to 3rd that LA 3rd baseman Luis Rengifo made a diving play on towards shortstop — picked up and threw a 1-hopper to 1st but Mike Ford let it go by him for a 2-run error. Yankees 4 Angels 2.
4. Weissert Gets the Win
Greg Weissert came in to pitch the 3rd and 4th innings — retiring all 6 batters in order, with 2 strikeouts. The official scorer gave him the win for the game. It was Weissert’s second straight 2-shutout-innings performance, after the horrible 1st appearance in the bigs last Thursday night.
1st MLB win for @greg_weissert 🙌 pic.twitter.com/9vssSDOLoR
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 31, 2022
5. Judge Puts It Away
In the top of the 4th, with Mayers still pitching — LeMahieu and Benintendi stroked singles after 2 were out, bringing up Aaron Judge.
The Angels pitched to Judge. Everyone at the stadium — many Yankee fans — stood up in anticipation. And Judge bombed his 51st homer to right center to put the game away. Yankees 7 Angels 2.
#AllRise for Home Run 51 🙌 pic.twitter.com/qL7i5k3rli
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 31, 2022
6. Yank Bullpen Does the Job
Lucas Leutge allowed a homer to — old friend Mike Ford — in the 5th. After that Lou Trivino, Ron Marinaccio, and Jonathan Loaisiga combined for 3.2 innings of shutout ball — all looking impressive.
Wandy Peralta came in with 1 out in the 9th, and allowed double, lineout, single, lineout for the old ballgame.
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