The Angels received a message that the game originally scheduled for Monday night would be played on Tuesday instead.
However, the Yankees seemed caught off guard.
When play resumed, it was the Angels who took control, hitting three consecutive home runs off Ryan Weathers in the first inning and eventually falling to the Angels 7-1 in a warm Bronx evening.
Angels pitcher Reid Detmers effectively subdued the Yankees’ hitters in their 11-10 victory on Monday, continuing a trend that began in the series opener.
Detmers, pitching against a lineup missing Ben Rice—the league’s leader in OPS—managed to limit the Yankees to just four hits and a single run over more than seven innings, preventing any runner from reaching second base until the eighth inning.
“I thought Detmers was good, but we need to find ways to produce,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone noted. “We just have to keep moving forward.”
In contrast, over half of the Angels’ lineup connected for home runs, all solo shots, with Weathers giving up a career-high four home runs and Yerry de los Santos contributing to the damage in the later innings. The total of five homers matched the number of runs given up by the Yankees’ pitching staff in their initial 16 games combined.
Bad pitching and hitting have led the Yankees (9-8) to experience their seventh loss in nine games, but they’ll attempt to turn things around on Wednesday.
“It’s tough for me when we win games,” Weathers reflected. “We had some good moments, but giving up three runs on three solo shots in the first wasn’t ideal. I want to win when I pitch, and tonight didn’t help.”
Despite entering the game without allowing a home run in his first three starts (16 innings), Weathers found himself in a tricky situation.
It was a peculiar night for Weathers, who tallied 10 strikeouts over just over five innings but let four home runs slip. In the first inning, he surrendered 1,276 feet worth of homers to Mike Trout, Joe Adell, and Jorge Soler on just five pitches.
The Angels took an early lead of 3-0, capitalizing on low fastballs, including one that Adell sent deep even though it was lower in the strike zone.
“They’re a strong low ball-hitting team, and I can’t afford those mistakes against them,” Weathers admitted.
After that rough start, he managed to retire 10 of the next 11 batters, only to have former Yankee Oswaldo Peraza hit a solo home run in the fourth, bringing the score to 4-0.
“You can see everything there,” Boone said about Weathers. “He shows potential, but controlling the heater is a bit tricky.”
Following a strikeout in the fifth, Weathers walked a batter in the sixth, essentially ending his night.
Paul Blackburn then took over, and the Angels pushed their lead to 6-0, allowing four batters on base with a combination of three singles and a walk, drawing jeers from the crowd.
In the eighth, Yoan Moncada added another run, extending the lead to 7-0 before the Yankees finally managed to score in the later innings.
Randall Grichuk broke out of his 0-for-15 slump with a double, and after Austin Wells singled, Rice pinch-hit for Ryan McMahon, driving in a run with a sacrifice fly.
“You can see how unpredictable this game is,” Paul Goldschmidt remarked. “When things are good, it feels like you’ve got it all figured out. When times are rough, it’s important not to dwell too much on it. We’ve had close games, but unfortunately, we’ve lost more than we’d like recently.”
