Roberts’ late homer leads Yankees to 4-3 win over Angels

Source: FanGraphs

This game had the look of another big letdown. Given the way the Yankees have been playing these last few days, it was easy to think the worst in the late innings. Instead, the Bombers got a big homer from an unexpected source and rallied for one of their biggest wins of the season. The final score was 4-3. Let’s recap the win over the Angels with bullet points because it’s late:

• HIROK Returns: For the first time this season, Hiroki Kuroda looked like Hiroki Kuroda. I mean the good version of Hiroki Kuroda we all know and love. He held the high-powered Halos — the same team that knocked him all over the park two starts ago — to three runs (one earned) on four singles, one triple, and no walks in 7.2 innings, striking out eight. As usual, the defense contributed greatly to the first two runs. This team can’t field at all. Anyway, after weeks of fumbling around with his slider and splitter, Kuroda had both working on Tuesday. He threw 100+ pitches (108, to be exact) for the first time in 2014 and looked very, very good. Exactly what the Yankees needed.
• Tied Up: The Angels jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third, but the Bombers rebounded to knot it up in the fifth. It was a three single rally: Yangervis Solarte to left, Brett Gardner to center, then Brian Roberts to center to score the first run. Jacoby Ellsbury grounded into a double play to simultaneously score the second run and kill the rally. At this point, I’ll take the runs any way they can get them. It’s pretty clear this team won’t hit for much power, so it takes three singles and a double play to score two runs these days.
• Take The Lead: Man the eighth inning felt very much like Monday’s game. The first two runners reached and we were all sitting around wondering how they would blow it. Derek Jeter managed to get caught in a rundown between third and home for the first out, which only added fuel to the “they’re going to blow this” fire. Thankfully, Alfonso Soriano yanked a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield and Raul Ibanez’s noodle arm wasn’t enough to stop Carlos Beltran from scoring from second. They only got the one run, but baby steps.
• Closers Are For Closin’: One night after throwing 34 pitches, Shawn Kelley was summoned to face Albert Pujols with two outs and a man on third in the eighth. Naturally, he fell behind in the count 3-0, battled back to 3-2, then served up the game-tying single on a hanging slider. David Robertson was up in the bullpen alongside Kelley, but for some reason was not brought into the biggest spot in the game. It nearly cost them in a big way.
• Re-Take The Lead: Brian Roberts hit a no-doubt solo homer off Ernesto Frieri with two outs in the ninth. This isn’t a joke. Brian Roberts really hit a no-doubt solo homer off Ernesto Frieri with two outs in the ninth to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead after Kelley blew the 3-2 lead a half-inning earlier. At +0.41 WPA, it was the team’s biggest hit of 2014. Baseball, man. It can be weird. Robertson retired the side in order in the ninth with ease. Like I said, closers are for closin’.
• Leftovers: Solarte and Roberts were the team’s only players with multiple hits, though Jeter and Beltran both singled and walked … the infield defense somehow manages to look worse by the day. In that third inning, Solarte barehanded a bunt and threw over to first, except no one was covering because Mark Teixeira charged and Roberts was standing too far away on the shift … this umpire crew is awful. Home plate ump Scott Barry was barking at Kuroda and the infielders for no apparent reason in the seventh, then he never bothered to signal safe when Beltran scored the go-ahead run in the eighth. Just put your mask on and call the game.

For the box score and video highlights, go to MLB.com. FanGraphs has some other stats and the updated standings are at ESPN. The Yankees will look to grab their first series win in Anaheim since June 2011 in the third and final game of the three-game set on Wednesday night. That was four series ago. Lefties Vidal Nuno and Hector Santiago will be the pitching matchup.