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Struggling Yankees face Angels Wednesday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 7/1/2015  at  10:55:00 AM
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NEW YORK YANKEES (41-37)

at LOS ANGELES ANGELS (41-37)

First pitch: Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -120, New York +110, Total: 8

The New York Yankees finish off their road trip when they take on the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.

The Yankees have hovered at the top of the AL East all year long, but this recent road trip has not helped them as they are 2-4 so far while losing each of their last three games. They left Houston with a split over four games, but have not been able to muster any type of offense during the losing streak as they are being outscored 9-3. They were unable to get it going during the middle game of this set on Tuesday, putting up just two hits in the 2-1 defeat. OF Brett Gardner (.305) was just 1-for-4 in the contest, but last week’s AL Player of the Week has gone 20-for-44 (.455) with two home runs, six RBIs and 11 runs in the last 10 contests. The Angels are moving in the right direction as they look to climb up the AL West standings and have won four of their last five games, giving up a meager two runs per game in that period. Overall, they are 6-2 during their current homestand and as a result have moved into second in the division, four games behind the Astros. The L.A. offense didn’t look ready to compete on Tuesday night until 1B Albert Pujols (.265) and SS Erick Aybar (.264) went yard in back-to-back at-bats in the sixth inning. OF Mike Trout (.303) continued another solid season and is 10 for his last 31 (.323) with two solo homers and 14 strikeouts. Hoping to piggy-back off of his last start will be RHP Nathan Eovaldi (7-2, 4.81 ERA) for the Yanks as he takes on RHP Matt Shoemaker (4-6, 5.03 ERA) of the host L.A. group. New York has not had too much success when on the road as evidenced by its 20-23 record away from home as the Angels have compiled a 25-17 record in L.A. thus far. The Yankees have always had the Halos number as they are 11-7 against them since the start of 2013, going just 3-5 when in Los Angeles during that time and New York is 3-2 this year when taking on this opponent. Trends show that New York is 10-1 (.909) after scoring and allowing four runs or less in the last three games in the past two seasons as the Angels are 48-19 (.716) at home when the total is eight to 8.5 in the same timeframe. The injury report has a ton of OFs out for the Yankees with Carlos Beltran (Ribs) questionable and the trio of Jacoby Ellsbury (Knee), Mason Williams (Shoulder) and Slade Heathcott (Quad) all on the DL as the only player missing from Los Angeles is OF Collin Cowgill (Wrist).

Eovaldi’s numbers since joining the league don’t really reflect how impressive his stuff is as he averages 96.0 MPH on his fastball and gets his two-seamer up a tick higher (97 MPH). Despite that, he is striking out a mere 6.6 batters per nine innings while showing continued solid control (2.4 BB/9). His performances should start improving as opposing batters are hitting a bloated .354 BABIP and his xFIP (3.84) is nearly a full run better than his actual ERA. The improvements have been seen in his last two outings, totaling 12 innings and allowing four runs on eight hits with a 10:3 K/BB ratio over two victories. Eovaldi has faced this team three times in his career, going 1-1 (1-2 team record) with a 4.91 ERA (1.91 WHIP) but was able to do well against them this year (5.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 K) in a winning effort. The trio of OFs Mike Trout, Kole Kalhoun and 1B Albert Pujols have collectively gone 11-for-22 with two RBI against the righty as 3B David Freese is a poor 1-for-10 in the matchup. The New York bullpen is 12-8 with a 3.44 ERA (1.20 WHIP) and has successfully saved 25-of-29 (86%) games. Dellin Betances (1.17 ERA, 6 saves) has 62 strikeouts in his 38.1 innings on the mound (14.6 K/9) and is 6-for-7 in save opportunities since coming in for the injured Andrew Miller.

The breakout 2014 season that was had by Shoemaker is beginning to look like a fluke as the 28-year-old has seen his ERA push over 5.00 with batters hitting 1.72 home runs per nine innings on the mound. He has been able to leave only 67.1% of runners on base as 14.7% of the flyballs hit by the opposition are leaving the yard. The righty has been doing a little better of late as the Angels are 3-2 in his last five starts while he comes off of a nice outing (6 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 K) in a losing effort against the Mariners last week. He has never faced the Yankees in his career and the only player for New York that has gone against Shoemaker before is 1B Garrett Jones who went hitless in his three at-bats in the matchup. Although he has never seen 1B Mark Teixeira (.246) he will need to tread lightly as the veteran leads the AL with 54 RBI and is in the top-five in HR (19), walks (41) and SLG (.536). The relievers for Los Angeles have gone 13-7 with a 3.23 ERA (1.18 WHIP) and are 23-for-34 (68%) in save chances. Huston Street (2.14 ERA, 23 saves) sits second in the AL with his 23 saves while blowing three as he has allowed just 21 hits in his 33.2 innings of work.


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