Aaron Judge, Juan Soto drive in five runs in Yankees’ 8-3 win over Angels

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto drove in five of the Yankees‘ eight runs as New York beat the Angels, 8-3, on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Here are the takeaways…

-Last season, Carlos Rodon infamously blew a kiss to the crowd after a terrible outing his last time in Anaheim. This season was a very different story. The Yankees southpaw pitched six strong innings to give the rotation another great outing.

Through the first six innings, the only blemish was a solo shot to Logan O’Hoppe, who also got to Luis Gil in Wednesday’s game, in the second inning to put the Angels up 1-0. All 10 home runs given up by Rodon this season have been of the solo variety.

After the homer, Rodon retired 14 in a row before he ran into trouble in the seventh when he walked a batter and gave up back-to-back hits to allow the Angels to creep to within 7-2 before being taken out. The Yankees bullpen would allow one more of Rodon’s runners to score as the left-hander’s night was through.

Rodon pitched 6+ IP (87 pitches/58 strikes), giving up three runs on three hits, one walk, and striking out five. He’s the first Yankees starter since Nestor Cortes (May 11) to allow three-plus runs.

-In support of Rodon, the Yankees big hitters helped get the scoring going. Judge hit a two-run shot with Soto on base to give the Yankees their first hit and runs of the game in the fourth inning.

It was a tight game going into the seventh inning when Angels reliever Adam Cimber had trouble locating his pitches. He gave up a hit and walked four batters, including two with the bases loaded to increase the Yankees lead to 4-1.

After Cimber was taken out, Soto greeted the next Angels pitcher with a bases-clearing triple to put the Yankees up big, 7-1.

Jose Trevino hit a sac fly in the eighth to extend the Yankees lead to 8-3. Anthony Volpe finished 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored, ending his 21-game hitting streak.

–Ian Hamilton, making his first appearance since May 17 after being placed on the COVID IL, gave up a walk but struck out two batters in relief of Rodon. The combination of Hamilton, Caleb Ferguson, Tommy Kahnle and Michael Tonkin got the final nine outs.

Game MVP: Aaron Judge and Juan Soto

Judge’s two-run shot gave Rodon and the Yankees a lead early, and Soto’s triple put the team up comfortably.

Highlights

What’s next

the Yankees head to San Francisco to start a three-game series with the Giants on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 10:15 p.m.

Marcus Stroman (4-2, 2.76 ERA) will be on the mound and will be opposed by Jordan Hicks (4-1, 2.33 ERA).