Angels Trounce Yankees, 10-1, End Losing Streak At Seven

The Los Angeles Angels were due to find their footing offensively and win a game, and they did it in a big way as they pounded out 12 hits and rode a strong start from rookie Walbert Urena to a 10-1 win over the New York Yankees. 

The only thing missing from this one was a Halos homer, but offensive star Vaughn Grissom did nearly everything else, starting when he singled home the first run of the game in the third inning to make it 1-0. 

Zach Neto was next up as he singled home two more in the fourth off Yankee starter Elmer Rodriguez, and Mike Trout followed his lead with a base hit that brought home two more to up the Angels’ lead to 4-0.

Spencer Jones got the Yankees on the board with a solo homer off Walbert Urena, but Urena certainly wasn’t bothered by the bomb, as manager Kurt Suzuki noted. 

"There’s really no panic when you watch him,” manager Kurt Suzuki said in a followup piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.  “When you face the Yankees, the Phillies, the Red Sox, there's always a little bit of a sense of anxiety. When you watched Walbert from pitch one, it was zero anxiety. I think it was 11-for-11 on first-pitch strikes or something crazy like that. That's the sign of an ace, and I thought he pitched great tonight.” 

Urena hit 101 on the gun according to Bollinger, who described his stuff as “electric.” The Angels have been giving some of their starters extra rest, and the rookie benefitted, as he dropped his ERA to 2.85, which is fifth best in the AL among pitchers who have thrown at least 120 innings. 

The Angels have made a habit of posting leads then going to sleep offensively, but that didn’t happen in this one. Christian Moore got in on the RBI act by driving in a run in the fifth with a double, and he scored after an errant pickoff throw by former Angels reliever Michael Fulmer. 

The rest of the offense was fueld by the Grissom Show, as he grounded out to get a run home in the sixth, then doubled home another one in the eighth, with Moore singling home the final run of the night to produce final score of 10-1. Grissom wound up with three hits, four RBIs and a pair of runs scored, and the Angels are now tied with the A’s in the basement of the AL West at 53-85.