Yankees blown out by Angels in disastrous series opener

The Angels demolished the Yankees 10-1 to take the first game of the series in Anaheim. Elmer Rodríguez got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Walbert Ureña. 

Cody Bellinger and Amed Rosario each singled in the top half of the first inning, then moved into scoring position with two outs thanks to a passed ball. But Trent Grisham went down on strikes, stranding Belli and Rosario. 

Rodríguez navigated around a two-out walk in the bottom half of the inning and recorded his first strikeout of the night, working a scoreless frame. 

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning, when Vaughn Grissom delivered a two-out RBI single to give the Angels a 1-0 lead that they would not relinquish. 

Rodríguez quickly picked up the first two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, then ran out of gas. Rodríguez plunked back-to-back hitters, then allowed an RBI single to Zack Neto. Mike Trout followed with a two-run single to extend the Angels' lead to 4-0. Michael Fulmer replaced Rodríguez and recorded a strikeout to end the inning. 

Final line for Rodríguez: 3.2 innings pitched, allowed four hits, four runs, walked three, and struck out five on 91 pitches. He threw his sinker 53% of the time, the curveball 23%, the fastball 15%, the sweeper 5%, and the changeup 3%. Rodríguez topped out at 98.1 mph, sitting at 96.3 mph on his heater, and had 13 whiffs. 

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Spencer Jones got the Yankees on the board with a no-doubt solo shot to right-center field, his eighth home run of the season. 

The Angels quickly got that run back and some against Fulmer in the bottom of the fifth inning. Christian Moore dunked an RBI double into right field, just out of reach of Jones, who attempted to make a sliding catch. Then one of the worst defensive plays you will see all year long from the Yankees made it 6-1. Fulmer fired a wild pickoff attempt into center field; Grisham then made a weak throw into the infield, thinking Moore wasn't going to go home, but he did and Luis Garcia Jr. made a wild throw home. 

Luis Gil took over for Fulmer in the bottom of the sixth, making his first career relief appearance and first appearance since April 26. With runners on the corners and one out, it looked like Gil induced an inning-ending double play, but José Caballero botched the ground ball, then topped it off with a wild throw, resulting in no outs and another run scoring. 

Gil came back out for the bottom half of the seventh and worked a scoreless inning. The Yankees closer, David Bednar, got the call for the bottom of the eighth and allowed a two-run double to Grissom to extend the Angels' lead to 9-1. Moore followed with an RBI single to give the Angels double-digit runs. 

The Yankees will look to bounce back tomorrow with Gerrit Cole on the mound facing off against Grayson Rodriguez. First pitch is slated for 9:38 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: I have said this a few times this year, but I think this game might take the cake for the worst loss of the season. Just a terrible performance from the defense and the offense. Rodríguez looked decent in the first three innings, but just completely hit a wall in the fourth inning. Fulmer allowed a run; he also didn't help himself with a wild pickoff attempt. Gil looked solid in his return with three strikeouts; he also allowed a run, but didn't get any help from Caballero. I understand the Yankees haven't used Bednar much lately, but wasting him in a game down six runs just feels flat-out stupid. Now, after throwing 28 pitches, he probably won't be available tomorrow. The Yankees now have just 24 games remaining; they need to go on a win streak before the AL East slips away from them. Thankfully, the Rays lost tonight, so the Yankees remain 4.5 games back. The Yankees offense didn't do much tonight with just six hits and one run. Jones accounted for that one run with a solo shot. Belli and Rosario each had multi-hit games. This was a game to forget. I envy the people who chose to go to sleep rather than stay up until midnight to watch this one. On to tomorrow; thankfully, the Yankees still have a chance to win the series with Cole on the mound tomorrow and Cam Schlittler on Wednesday.