Yankees' Spencer Jones, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back HRs in support of Gerrit Cole in win over Angels
Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. heads to third after hitting a solo home run during the first inning against the Angels, on Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif. Credit: AP/Mark J. Terrill
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Spencer Jones homered and drove in three runs, Jazz Chisholm Jr. also went deep and finished with three hits, and the Yankees pulled away Tuesday night for a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Jones and Chisholm launched back-to-back homers to give Gerrit Cole a 3-0 lead before even throwing a pitch in his latest return home.
The Yankees moved four games ahead of rival Boston for the top American League wild card and remained 4 1/2 games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.
A day that began with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment reaching an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Angels from owner Arte Moreno ended with the struggling Angels losing for the ninth time in 11 games.
Cole (8-7) gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 1⁄3 innings, striking out five and walking one. Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn and John Schreiber held Los Angeles to one hit the rest of the way.
Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez (4-6) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking two.
The Angels trailed 4-1 when Wade Meckler, who had three hits, opened the sixth with a single. Moisés Ballesteros singled and Christian Moore hit a two-run triple to right that eluded a diving Jones and trimmed the deficit to 4-3.
Cole was pulled in favor of Headrick, who stranded Moore by striking out pinch-hitter Jose Siri and getting Oswald Peraza to fly out.
The Yankees pushed the lead to 6-3 in the eighth when Jones walked, Chisholm singled and Trent Grisham, mired in a 2-for-42 slump, fouled off two bunt attempts before hitting an RBI single. Ryan McMahon loaded the bases with a bunt single and Paul Goldschmidt hit a sacrifice fly.
Consecutive singles by Cody Bellinger, who had three of the Yankees’ 14 hits, Luis García Jr. and Jones made it 7-3 in the ninth.
The Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the first. Bellinger singled before Jones hit a two-run homer — his second longball in two nights — and Chisholm followed with an opposite-field shot into the left-field corner.
Ben Rice singled in the third, went to third on Bellinger’s single and scored on García’s double-play grounder for a 4-0 advantage.
Los Angeles pulled to 4-1 in the bottom half when Zach Neto singled, stole second and scored on Meckler’s two-out single.
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