Carlos Rodon threw seven scoreless innings, Ben Rice and Oswald Peraza homered and the New York Yankees held on to beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Rodon (7-3) struck out 10, didn’t walk a batter and didn’t allow an Angels baserunner to get as far as third base. The Angels had five hits off Rodon, who made 105 pitches and lowered his ERA to 2.60.
The left-hander retired 13 consecutive Angels hitters between the third and seventh innings, helping the Yankees earn their fourth in a row and their eighth in the past nine games.
The Yankees finished with six hits, including a single by Aaron Judge. The major league batting leader went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts as his average dropped to .395.
The Angels made things interesting in the ninth inning against Yankees reliever Devin Williams, scoring twice on three hits, including a leadoff home run from Yoan Moncado. Williams, though, was able to retire pinch hitter Logan O’Hoppe on a foul popup to finish it and register his fifth save.
Angels starter Tyler Anderson (2-2) matched Rodon with three scoreless innings, but the Yankees broke through in the fourth. Anderson retired the first two batters of the inning before Rice got ahold of a changeup on a 1-2 pitch and launched it over the fence in right-center field for his 11th homer of the year.
The Yankees added to their lead in the sixth. The rally began when Cody Bellinger hit a fly ball to deep left-center field. Angels center fielder Matthew Lugo was able to get to the warning track in time but was unable to make a catch, and Bellinger took third on the error.
Bellinger scored on Anthony Volpe’s single for a 2-0 lead.
Anderson was finished after six innings, having allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk. He struck out three.
The Yankees increased their lead to 3-0 in the seventh on a solo homer by the No. 9 hitter Peraza off Angels reliever Hector Neris. The long ball was Peraza’s third of the year.
The Angels took their fourth consecutive loss on the heels of an eight-game winning streak. Los Angeles will try to prevent a three-game sweep in the series finale on Wednesday.
