The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels each have all-time great hitters, but their pitchers were the headliners on Monday night. Angels right-hander Jose Soriano tossed seven shutout innings, and Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt logged 7.2 scoreless frames.
New York shortstop Anthony Volpe had a chance to give his team a walk-off win when he came up with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning. The Yankees were down 1-0, and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt had gotten thrown out at home two batters earlier.
However, Volpe’s at-bat was another instance of New York not getting the big hit. The young infielder grounded out to third base on the first pitch, and the Yankees lost.
A reporter asked manager Aaron Boone postgame if he wished Volpe had taken a pitch in that at-bat, considering that Los Angeles reliever Hunter Strickland had just come into the game, via SNY.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) and shortstop Anthony Volpe (11)
© Brad Penner-Imagn Images
“Not necessarily. The first pitch is the best one to hit sometimes,” he said. “I didn’t see if it was off the plate or a good pitch to go after; that might be the case. But we gotta be ready to go there.”
Volpe went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the game and is slashing .241/.315/.431 with eight homers and 39 RBI across 70 contests this season.
The Yankees have now lost four straight, while Monday’s game broke the Angels’ three-game losing streak. The two teams will play again on Tuesday and Wednesday night before closing the series on Thursday afternoon.
Right-handed pitcher Will Warren (4-3, 4.86 ERA) will start for New York against fellow right-hander Kyle Hendricks (4-6, 5.20 ERA).
