Yankeesa pitcher David Phelps (right) wipes his face as the Angels’ Erick Aybar rounds third after hitting a solo home run in the second inning. (AP)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A West Coast trip that started well has developed into a skull-scalding nightmare that could be the beginning of the end of the Yankees’ season.
Not only did the Yankees’ losing streak grow to five after the Angels topped them, 6-2, at Angel Stadium yesterday in front of 40,486, first baseman Mark Teixeira left the game in the fourth inning with a flareup of the right wrist problem that forced him to miss the opening two months of the season.
The Yankees announced Teixeira “aggravated the right wrist’’ and would be examined by team physician Chris Ahmad today in New York.
That the Yankees are flying Teixeira to New York — just hours ahead of the Yankees’ charter, which leaves following today’s game — to be examined is an indication it’s serious.
When Teixeira suffered the injury in early March, there was a 30 percent chance he would require surgery. If that’s the case now, he is done for the season.
After winning three of four in Seattle to open a 10-game, three-city trip, the Yankees are 3-6 entering today’s get-away date with the Angels. The five straight losses tie a season high.
The loss dropped the third-place Yankees four games back of the AL East-leading Red Sox, their largest deficit this season.
Teixeira, who returned May 31, is batting .151 (8-for-53) in 15 games after going 0-for-2 yesterday.
“He doesn’t feel like he has the snap in his swing,’’ Joe Girardi said on Fox during the game.
Losing Teixeira came a day after the Yankees placed corner infielder Kevin Youkilis, who has played six games at first, on the disabled list with a lower back problem.
Girardi replaced Teixeira with second baseman/third baseman David Adams because first baseman Lyle Overbay was the DH while Travis Hafner’s sick bat got a rest.
In what has become a daily occurrence, the Yankees failed to score enough. They have scored 18 runs in the past eight games.
The most frustrating moment came in the seventh. With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Ichiro Suzuki opened with a bunt single and stole second and third. Ninety feet away from home with no outs, the Yankees failed to plate him as Thomas Neal, Reid Brignac (looking) and Chris Stewart struck out.
David Phelps (4-4) absorbed the loss after allowing four runs and nine hits in six-plus innings.
A leadoff walk to Mark Trumbo in the sixth with the score tied, 2-2, was Phelps’ downfall. Howie Kendrick’s third single in three at-bats moved Trumbo to second and got Shawn Kelley throwing in the pen.
Phelps induced Alberto Callaspo to hit a ball back to the mound that Phelps turned into a force at second. With runners at the corners, Erick Aybar, who homered to right in the second, hit a 0-1 pitch to left for an RBI single and a 3-2 Angels lead. Phelps limited the damage to a run by getting Hank Conger to bang into a 3-6-3 double play.
Phelps left in the seventh when the Angels scored twice to push the lead to 5-2. Josh Hamilton had an RBI double off Shawn Kelley and Kendrick walked to force in a run.
Ichiro may have cost the Yankees a run in the fourth — with a big assist from third-base umpire Manny Gonzalez .
Ichiro doubled with one out and appeared to steal third with Neal at the plate, but Gonzalez incorrectly called Ichiro out. Ichiro and third-base coach Rob Thomson, who rarely question an umpire’s call, did and that brought Girardi from the dugout.
Albert Pujols’ two-out single in the third scored Mike Trout after Trout drew a leadoff walk, swiped second and went to third on Hamilton’s grounder to the right side.
Chris Stewart’s soft, two-out single to right field led to a two-run rally in the third for the Yankees and erased a 1-0 Angels lead.
Brett Gardner followed with a triple high off the right-field fence that tied the score, 1-1, and Jayson Nix’s single to left plated Gardner for a 2-1 edge. When Nix stole second, Robinson Cano was walked intentionally so Hanson could face Teixeira. He popped up the first pitch.
george.king@nypost.com
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