The Yankees have taken their hits early this season, but they have still not lost a series.
They made sure that streak continued on Thursday when they won the rubber game against the Angels, 9-3, behind six quality innings from Nestor Cortes, a patient offense and a strong all-around game from center fielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
With the win, the Yankees have now won five series and split the other through their first six series of the season, despite their growing list of key contributors on the injured list.
The Yankees (12-7) spotted Cortes a five-run lead in the bottom of the first inning and then added on late to secure the win, taking two of three games against Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and the Angels (9-10).
Anthony Rizzo led the way, going 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs and an RBI, while the Yankees overall recorded 11 walks, six of which came around to score.
Cortes cruised through the first four innings and did not allow a hit until the fifth, when the bottom of the Angels’ order reeled off three straight hits to make it 5-1.
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But after Cortes got the first out with runners on the corners, Kiner-Falefa helped make sure the inning didn’t get out of hand.
Leadoff man Taylor Ward ripped a fly ball to the gap in left-center field that Kiner-Falefa took a slightly suboptimal route on, but recovered in time to chase it down with a diving backhanded grab.
Instead of being an extra-base hit, it went down as a sacrifice fly that trimmed the Yankees’ lead to 5-2 before Cortes retired Ohtani to end the inning.
It was also Kiner-Falefa’s second diving catch of the game, the first coming in the fourth inning on a fly ball he initially lost in the sun before running in and laying out to snag it.
The Angels added a run in the seventh inning to make it 5-3, but Wandy Peralta later left the bases loaded by getting Anthony Rendon to fly out.
The Yankees then created some more breathing room in the bottom of the seventh.
DJ LeMahieu cracked an RBI double before the Yankees loaded the bases and Kiner-Falefa delivered a two-run single to push the lead to 8-3.
Oswald Peraza, making his second start of the season, added an RBI single in the eighth inning to give the Yankees another contribution from an unexpected source.
The Yankees jumped on top in the bottom of the first, thanks in part to command issues from Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who walked three batters in the inning.
The first two runs came in on a single by Rizzo and a bases-loaded walk from Peraza before Jose Trevino smacked a two-out, three-run double to left field to make it a 5-0 lead.