The Yankees win thanks to a nice outing by Hiroki Kuroda, and Brian Roberts' first home run of the season.
Hiroki Kuroda and CJ Wilson matched up for the second time this season, and it was the Yankees turn to get the win. Kuroda put together a nice outing, pitching 7.2 innings with 8 strikeouts and only 1 earned run. Most of the Angels scoring came in the third inning after Yangervis Solarte was charged with a throwing error after fielding a bunt by Collin Cowgill. Erick Aybar and Mike Trout both hit sacrifice flys to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.
The Yankees offense didn't come alive until the fifth inning, when Solarte, Brett Gardner and Brian Roberts all hit singles, Roberts driving in the run. Jacoby Ellsbury then grounded into a double play to score Gardner. The game remained tied at 2-2 until the 8th inning, when the Yankees took the lead thanks to an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano which involved Carlos Beltran barrel-rolling across home plate.
(Credit to Andrew)
Things got interesting in the bottom half of the 8th inning. Shawn Kelley was spotted warming up in the bullpen, but Kuroda (somewhat surprisingly) came out to try and finish the inning. With two outs, Kuroda gave up a triple to Mike Trout. Then Joe Girardi lost his mind, or forgot about last night's game, and decided to bring Kelley in to face Albert Pujols. Pujols singled to score Trout. No one was surprised. Kelley struck out Howie Kendrick to end the inning and it looked like the game could be headed to extra innings...
But then, with two outs in the 9th inning, Brian Roberts came to the plate and hit his first home run of the season. David Robertson was then able to close out the game without any trouble.
No extra innings. Yankees win!
Vidal Nuno will take the mound tomorrow night against Hector Santiago at 10:05 EST.