Guided by the arm of CC Sabathia and assisted by several blunders of their rivals, the New York Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the championship series of the American League with a 4-1 win Friday night against the Los Angeles Angels in a match contested by a very cold and windy.
The second match will take place Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, and should bring together the starters Joe Saunders for the Angels, and AJ Burnett, the Yankees’ side.
Sabathia has been solid once more. In eight innings, the Yankees lefty colossus has allowed one earned run, four hits and one walk while retiring seven strikeouts.
The Angels have recorded their only point in the fourth inning thanks to a double Vladimir Guerrero and Kendry Morales single with two outs.
But the Yankees had already struck, scoring two points in the first inning with a sacrifice fly from Alex Rodriguez and a single to Hideki Matsui lucky.
The designated hitter the Yankees rolled up a small balloon, instead of being the third out of the sleeve, turned into simple good for a point after the ball has fallen to shortstop Erick Aybar, the Following a lack of communication.
Earlier in the round, the left fielder Juan Rivera had erred, the first of three in the game for the Angels, allowing Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, authors of consecutive singles, forward 90 feet.
Matsui produced a second point in the fifth inning, with a double to left field that allowed Damon to cross home plate. In this sequence, however, Rodriguez has been withdrawn at the plate.
The Yankees added to their lead a round later. After two outs, Melky Cabrera has withdrawn a free pass and went to second base after a blunder of starting pitcher John Lackey, who had tried to take in default. Jeter followed with a single that carried the score 4-1.
After giving one walk to Torii Hunter, Mariano Rivera retired the following three batters, including three Guerrero taken to confirm the victory.
Lackey pitched five innings and two-thirds and allowed four runs, only two earned, nine hits and three walks.
CC Sabathia
CC Sabathia
