|
 Eovaldi threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings and reliever Chasen Shreve got
two big outs to help give the New York Yankees a 3-1 win over the
Angels at Angel Stadium, avoiding a three-game sweep.
Third baseman Chase Headley (3-for-5) and shortstop Didi Gregorius
(2-for-4) each had an RBI single and left fielder Garrett Jones hit
a solo homer to account for the Yankees offense, such as it was. It
was a breakout game considering they had totaled just three runs in
their previous three games combined.
Eovaldi (8-2) was sharp through five innings, but he ran into
trouble in the sixth. Second baseman Johnny Giavotella led off with
a single, and after a strikeout of right fielder Kole Calhoun,
Eovaldi walked both center fielder Mike Trout and designated hitter
Albert Pujols to load the bases.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to the left-handed reliever Shreve,
who got out of the jam by getting shortstop Erick Aybar on a pop to
short and third baseman David Freese on a grounder to third.
"He's been doing it all year," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of
Shreve. "I felt good about bringing him in that situation and
obviously he did an outstanding job. He's locating extremely well,
he's throwing strikes, he hasn't walked people. He doesn't beat
himself. He throws strikes."
The Angels scored their only run of the game on a two-out homer by
Trout in the eighth, his 21st of the season, off lefty Justin
Wilson. Dellin Betances pitched the ninth for his seventh save.
Angels starter Matt Shoemaker (4-7) got the loss after giving up two
runs on seven hits and one walk in 5 2/3 innings.
The Angels indeed lost twice, losing both the game and Dipoto, who
resigned amid tension between him and manager Mike Scioscia. The
rift between the two began in May of 2012, when Dipoto fired
Scioscia's good friend and hitting coach Mickey Hatcher.
It seemed to boil over during a team meeting on Sunday, according to
a report from FoxSports.com, in which Dipoto expressed frustration
in the way information and scouting reports he and his staff had
compiled were being delivered to players by Scioscia and his
coaches.
As a result of the meeting, Dipoto and his staff would send the
information directly to the players instead of having it filtered
through the coaching staff.
Two days later on Tuesday, Dipoto reportedly cleaned out his office,
leading to Wednesday's announcement.
"I thought it was a normal relationship," Angels president John
Carpino said when asked about Scioscia and Dipoto. "You have two
really smart, strong baseball minds. Philosophically Jerry and Mike
always lined up, on the field and everywhere else."
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Scioscia continued to say he had no specific problem with Dipoto.
"I felt very comfortable dealing with Jerry," Scioscia said. "We had
a very honest and frank relationship as far as how we felt. We
didn't always agree so, speaking from my end of it, it wasn't a
comfort level problem at all."
Dipoto took over as general manager following the 2011 season. Bill
Stoneman, who was the club's general manager when it won its only
World Series title in 2002, was named the interim general manager.
It was Stoneman who hired Scioscia in 2000.
"I think the fact Bill's coming back, we're all familiar with the
way he goes about preparing every day," Scioscia said. "We're very
familiar with what his expectations are from us on a daily basis.
We're very confident he's going to do things to help us improve this
year and hopefully make a run at what we feel is going not evolve
into a championship-caliber club."
Likewise, the Yankees have championship expectations, and their win
helped them remain a half-game behind first-place Baltimore in the
American League East.
They took a 1-0 lead against Shoemaker in the third inning.
Gregorius led off with a single and went to second on a sacrifice
bunt by second baseman Stephen Drew.
Center fielder Brett Gardner grounded out for the second out of the
inning, moving Gregorius to third before third baseman Chase Headley
came up with a two-out single to right field that gave the Yankees
an early lead.
It was the first of three hits for Headley.
"He had his luck change a little bit," Girardi said. "Now if we can
get Drew's luck to change. He hit three balls on the button and
didn't have much to show for it."
NOTES: Angels RHP Mike Morin was activated after missing five weeks
with a strained oblique. ... Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira's 19 home runs
are the most by a Yankee in the first half of the season (81 games)
since 2012, when Curtis Granderson had 23 and Robinson Cano hit 20.
... Angels RHP Huston Street needs two more saves to become the 27th
player in major league history with 300. He is 23 of 26 in save
situations this year. ... Yankees RF Carlos Beltran was not in the
starting lineup, one day after straining his rib cage on a swing
during Tuesday's game.
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