Yankees at Angels
The New York Yankees ended a wildly successful homestand in dramatic fashion and hope to carry their momentum into a challenging stretch when they open a three-game series at the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. Gary Sanchez's walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, capping a four-game sweep.
New York won the final six games of the homestand by a combined margin of 47-13 and enter a seven-game trip through Los Angeles and Houston on a very high note. "We've got a lot of fight in here, a lot of bulldogs," left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who threw the first five innings Thursday, told reporters. The Angels won two of three at Houston to begin the week to improve to 11-2 on the road, compared to 5-7 at home. Veteran slugger Albert Pujols begins their six-game homestand with 2,994 career hits, the most recent of which was his 619th homer in Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Astros.
TV: 10:07 p.m. ET, YES (New York), FS West (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Luis Severino (4-1, 2.32 ERA) vs. Angels LH Andrew Heaney (0-1, 9.64)
After giving up five runs in five innings at Fenway Park on April 10, Severino returned to his dominant form with back-to-back victories. He allowed one run and four hits in 13 innings over that span, defeating Toronto for the second time this year in his last turn on Sunday. The 24-year-old lost his only prior meeting with the Angels last June at home after giving up five earned runs in six innings.
Heaney is 1-4 with a 7.54 ERA in eight starts with the Angels since the beginning of the 2016 season after a rocky outing against San Francisco last Friday. The former first-round pick does have 13 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings this year and 40 in 31 frames at the big-league level over the last two seasons. He dominated the Yankees over seven innings in a 2015 encounter at Angel Stadium to pick up his first win in the majors.
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees 1B Tyler Austin's suspension for his involvement in a brawl at Boston was reduced from five games to four, and he will begin serving it Friday.
2. Angels LF Justin Upton has struck out at least once in 11 straight games.
3. New York RF Aaron Judge has reached base safely in 21 consecutive contests.