As corny as it sounds, a lot can happen before that 27th out, and what felt like it would’ve been yet another deflating loss, following a dangerous trend early on, turned into one of the more thrilling wins for the Yankees this season as they walked off the Angels 5-4 at home on a José Caballero two-run single. But before getting to that moment against a familiar face in Jordan Romano, the Angels’ new closer who also blew the game on Monday, the Yankees tested the patience of their fans.
Facing a starting
pitcher who was dealing with walk issues ahead of this game, the Yankees capitalised on it by earning four free passes against Jack Kochanowicz. Although two of them led directly to runs, as Trent Grisham made it a 3-0 game early on with a two-run knock in the second after Judge’s solo bomb began the scoring in the first, one can’t help but feel underwhelmed by their efforts. Despite allowing three runs in the first two innings, Kochanowicz managed to pitch into the seventh inning and left in line for the win as the Yankees’ bats took a hiatus from scoring in between the second and ninth innings, allowing the Angels to take control of this one for a large period.
In order for the Angels to do that, they had to get at Luis Gil, which turned out to be not much of a problem, homering three times against him. In fact, with the way the Yankees performed after Gil’s departure, the Angels probably wished he could’ve stayed in there a bit longer. For someone who ultimately failed rather spectacularly in his number one objective in trying to deliver a solid performance tonight—keeping the ball in the park—Gil certainly could’ve done worse than the four runs he allowed in five innings of work.
The Angels got to work on Gil with solo shots by Adam Frazier in the third and Logan O’Hoppe in the fifth, and then the star of this series, Mike Trout, got what, right until the end, looked like it was going to be the big hit of this game. Notorious for loving the ball down in the zone, Trout got a low heater he was looking for and took it to right field for a two-run shot to then give the Angels the 4-3 lead. Absurdly, it was Trout’s fourth long ball of this series, going deep in each of the three games.
What’s even more worrisome is that the three home runs were in no way a fluke—the Angels were all over Gil and could’ve easily constructed a more damaging scoreline. According to Statcast, the average exit velocity on batted ball events against Gil’s fastball was 99.1 mph. Every time the Angels connected, they did so with authority, and they connected quite often, whiffing on just 3 of 17 swings against his fastballs.
Somewhat leaving Gil off the hook would come back to bite the Angels, but it took many a comeback attempt from the Yankees before doing so. The Yankees first got some momentum back in the seventh inning, securing the third out at the top of the frame with Cody Bellinger gunning down Zach Neto, who attempted to go from first to third on a ground ball single from Trout—and then by opening the bottom of the frame with a beautifully laid down bunt single from Austin Wells. With Wells at second and two outs following Ryan McMahon’s strikeout, the managerial chess match took place. Trent Grisham was coming up for his fourth at-bat against Kochanowicz, the Angels brought in Drew Pomeranz, and Aaron Boone countered with Paul Goldschmidt, whose hard liner unfortunately found the glove of Frazier at second base to close the threat.
The theme of narrowly missing out kept going as Giancarlo Stanton—who had a particularly difficult time striking out three times against Kochanowicz—crushed a 3-2 fastball against Jordan Romano to start the ninth, but it didn’t have enough air under it and was caught by Bryce Teodosio in right. Teodosio had just come into the game as a defensive replacement.
Sometimes, though, it’s better to be lucky than good, and the Yankees’ successful comeback effort originated on a massive blunder from the Angels’ defense. Right after Stanton’s lineout, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a casual popup, but miscommunication on the infield between Neto and old friend Oswald Peraza saw it drop in.
With Jazz on base, the Yankees had an immediate threat. Jazz stole second, a bit rattled Romano walked Wells, and then a single from Caballero with the runners taking off before the pitch was enough to score two and give this team a much-needed momentum boost.
The Survive Trout Show continues for one more day tomorrow at 1:35pm ET, as the Yankees send out the best they have for this series finale against the Angels, with ace Max Fried looking for his third win of the season. The Angels haven’t announced their starter yet. Just in case you were wondering, Trout and Fried have never faced each other before in the big leagues.
