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Angels drop another tight home game against Luis Gil, Yankees

May 30, 2024

ANAHEIM — The Angels spent another night pestering one of the best teams in baseball as they appear ready to enter June with a little less gloom.

The New York Yankees lost their manager to an ejection in the first inning on Wednesday yet still managed to maintain their resolve.

Angels starter Tyler Anderson walked an early tightrope before the Yankees ultimately pulled off a 2-1 victory before a mostly pro-New York crowd.

Unlike the series opener, when the Angels produced an eighth-inning rally for a victory, the offense mustered little against Yankees rookie phenom Luis Gil. The right-hander allowed just one hit until Logan O’Hoppe tagged him for a seventh-inning home run.

The difference ended up being an overthrow to third base on a seventh-inning triple by Anthony Volpe, who was able to dust himself off and walk to the plate when the relay from second baseman Luis Rengifo rolled into the Angels’ dugout.

Yet not everybody was willing to consider two tight games against a top team as a reason to celebrate.

“We have to win (Thursday) and I think we can have that (positive) mindset moving forward,” O’Hoppe said. “We’ve got to win a series against a good club and we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Until the seventh inning, the rule book had been kind to the Angels, who ended up losing for the fourth time in five games. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was tossed in the opening inning when he argued an interference call.

The Yankees loaded the bases against Anderson after three batters, but on a pop-up in the middle of the infield by Giancarlo Stanton, Angels shortstop Zech Neto backed into Juan Soto while trying to make the catch. Umpires already called for an infield fly, to retire Stanton and Soto was ruled out when Neto crashed into him.

“I was just trying to catch the ball,” Neto said. “I wasn’t trying to do it on purpose. It was just bad timing on his part, I guess. But there was no intention for me to get in his way or for him to get into my way.”

Said crew chief Vic Carapazza to a pool reporter: “The only time (runners) are protected is if he was on the base just standing there. So I had him interfering with the infielder and called the infield fly first, which now the batter is out. The interference after that was the second out.”

Carapazza said he did not think Soto tried to intentionally interfere with Neto.

Again in the third inning, more hijinks on the bases ensued when the Yankees’ Anthony Rizzo was hit in the foot by a ground ball while running between second and third base. While Rizzo was called out, the move prevented the Angels from pulling off a double play.

“Kind of some strange stuff,” Anderson said.

New York finally broke through in the fourth when Alex Verdugo hit a home run down the line in right field, much to the delight of the Yankee fans seated up and down the first-base line.

Anderson (5-5) gave up one run despite allowing four hits and six walks in five innings. Five Angels pitchers combined to walk nine batters.

After Volpe’s triple and run scored when Rengifo’s throw got past both third baseman Luis Guillorme and reliever Hunter Strickland, who was backing up the play, the Angels finally found the scoreboard.

O’Hoppe’s sixth home run of the season, just cleared the wall in right center on an 0-and-1 changeup from Gil. It was just the second home run allowed this month by Gil, who owned May with a 6-0 record in six starts and a 0.70 ERA.

Gil (7-1) gave up the lone run over eight innings with nine strikeouts. Yankees starters extended their MLB-record run to 16 consecutive starts of at least five innings and two runs or less.

Volpe also extended his hitting streak to 21 games by delivering two hits.

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And yet the Angels managed to hang into the bitter end, making things interesting in the ninth inning against Clay Holmes, who blew the save opportunity Tuesday.

Trailing by a run, Rengifo singled to lead off the ninth and immediately went to second base on a wild pitch. Tuesday’s hero Taylor Ward walked, but Willie Calhoun grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

Rengifo was left on third base as the tying run when O’Hoppe grounded out to third base to end the game.

“We hung in the game,” Manager Ron Washington said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance early in the game but we had the winning run on the bag, we had the tying run on the bag. We just didn’t come through.”

The Angels (21-34) are now 7-20 at home, while playing .500 baseball on the road. They haven’t won a series at home all season, are 8-20 in games decided by one or two runs overall and 3-14 in those tight games at Angel Stadium.

Bench coach Brad Ausmus, who managed the Angels in 2019, took over after Boone was ejected.

Orange County Register

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Angels drop another tight home game against Luis Gil, Yankees

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