Gil quiets Angels bats for Yankees win 

ANAHEIM – Angels left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson pitched decently enough to get a win against the New York Yankees. Anderson gave up just four hits in the course of pitching five innings against the American League East leaders. One of those hits, though, proved to be one that Anderson wished he could have back. 

A solo home run to right field by Alex Verdugo in the fourth inning proved to be the one that got away from Anderson. New York would add a second run in the top half of the seventh inning to come away with a hard-earned 2-1 win at Angel Stadium as the two teams split the first two games of a three-game series.  

For the most part, Anderson wiggled his way around the Yankees’ vaunted lineup that included Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Giancarlo Stanton and kept things competitive against New York, although a little bit of luck was on his side, especially early on. 

Two freakish plays in the first two innings allowed Anderson to get a reprieve and to keep pitching. In the first inning, Anderson was all over the place, walking several batters and loading the bases. With no outs, it looked like Anderson found himself in a jam that he could not get out of. 

But Anderson was able to get Stanton to pop up on the first pitch that he saw, but the ball was dropped by Angels shortstop Zach Neto, who bumped into Soto at second base. The Angels wound up getting a double play out of the deal as Soto was called out for interference.  

Without question, this ruling wiped out a potential New York offensive explosion. It sure as heck got under the skin of Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who was ejected from the game after arguing the call. 

Now with two outs and the Yankees devoid of momentum, Anderson and the Angels managed to squirm out of that first inning unscathed. Anderson found himself walking a tightrope in the second inning as well. Here again, another unusual baserunning malfunction negated another potential offensive by the Yankees.  

Anderson walked six batters with 60 percent of the pitches he threw being called strikes. While Anderson was doing his dance on the mound through five innings, New York pitcher Luis Gil had a relatively easy night. 

In recording his seventh win of the season (7-1), Gil pitched eight innings and gave up only two hits while striking out nine batters. The win gives New York its 38th victory of the season. The defeat dropped the Angels to 7-20 at home. 

An indication of how the game could have gone, the Yankees stranded 11 baserunners. The Angels are still playing without the services of superstar Mike Trout, who is still out of the lineup because of a torn meniscus in his left knee. Going into this game, the Angels had been riding a four-game winning streak against New York. 

One of the three total hits the Angels had on the night was a home run blast in the seventh inning by Logan O’Hoppe, who managed to be the only Angel player to touch up Gil in an otherwise dominating performance.