ANAHEIM, Calif. — In a town that sits in the shadow of Hollywood the Yankees put their biggest stars on display last night at Angel Stadium.
Los Angeles and its bright lights is up the road, but the A-listers in the visiting uniforms provided plenty of star power on the way to a 3-2 victory over the Angels that was witnessed by a sold-out crowd of 43,619.
Ace CC Sabathia posted his fourth straight victory, came within an out of a complete game and is 7-3.
Cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez crushed a two-run homer that gave the Yankees a two-run lead in the sixth.
Robinson Cano, the Bombers’ best player in April, added a solo homer in the fourth.
Mariano Rivera recorded the final out for his 15th save with one pitch.
And Derek Jeter singled to move within 15 hits of 3,000.
“That’s the best feeling no matter what the situation is,” Sabathia said of leaving the game with runners on first and second and two outs in the ninth for Rivera. “He is the greatest.”
The Yankees’ victory was their fifth in six games and kept them one game ahead of the second-place Red Sox in AL East.
After losing the first two games of a nine-game, three-city West Coast trip in Seattle the Yankees, at 5-3, are guaranteed of going home with a winning record as they prepare for a three-game showdown with the Red Sox in The Bronx that opens Tuesday night.
“[Today] is a big game, we have to come here with hunger to finish out the trip,” said Rodriguez, who robbed Jeff Mathis of a one-out double in the ninth with a diving stop toward the line.
Sabathia put at least one runner on in each of the first five frames but cruised through the sixth and seventh and had thrown 85 pitches through seven.
Though it was a save opportunity, manager Joe Girardi elected to bypass Rivera at the start of the ninth and let Sabathia start the inning with a pitch total of 99.
“He was throwing great, and I didn’t see any reason to make a change,” Girardi said. “His pitch count was down and he was on a roll.”
Peter Bourjos kept the game alive with a two-out single, went to second on defensive indifference and scored from on Maicer Izturis’ single to cut the lead to 3-2.
Girardi called for Rivera, and he needed one pitch to retire Erick Aybar for the save.
Sabathia, who credited his change-up for the wonderful performance, allowed two runs (one earned) and eight hits in 8 2/3 innings. His last loss was May 14 against the Red Sox.
During the four-game winning streak Sabathia has worked eight or more innings three times and gone the distance once.
Rodriguez hadn’t homered since May 21 and had gone 48 at-bats without losing a ball when he faced Ervin Santana with Curtis Granderson on first base, one out and the score tied, 1-1, in the sixth.
With the count, 1-1, Santana went after Rodriguez with a 95-mph fastball and Rodriguez hit it over the left-center field fence for his 10th homer.
“It was a good pitch to hit, right down the middle and I put a good swing on it,” Rodriguez said. “I always want to be productive, but the one thing I never worry about is home runs.”
The two RBIs lifted his career total to 1,864 and put him in a ninth-place tie with Mel Ott on the all-time RBI list.
It also was Rodriguez’s 68th career homer against the Angels, the most of his career against any team.