‘AL’ NIGHT LONG: Alfonso Soriano watches the first of his two home runs, a first-inning grand slam—which scored Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez during the Yankees’ 11-3 victory over the Angels. It was the second straight night Soriano hit multiple home runs. (Getty Images)
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The Alfonso Soriano for Corey Black deal late last month doesn’t guarantee the Yankees a date for October, but it has delivered a pulse.
For the second straight night the biggest kid in Little League placed the Yankees’ teetering postseason chances on his sinewy shoulders last evening and carried them to an 11-3 victory over the free-falling Angels in front of 38,379 at Yankee Stadium.
Twenty-four hours after homering twice and driving in six runs, Soriano homered twice and drove in a career-high seven runs to lead the pounding of Angels ace Jered Weaver.
“It’s not bad,’’ Soriano said of 13 RBIs in two games. “You don’t see days like that. I have to take these days because it’s not easy to get one RBI in a game.’’
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The Yankees’ fourth straight victory and fifth in sixth games went to Ivan Nova who was the recipient of the offensive explosion and improved to 6-4 with his second straight victory.
In 7 1/3 innings, Nova gave up three runs and 10 hits.
“For three innings he didn’t have his curveball for strikes but he battled through it,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “I give him a lot of credit. I thought he did a very good job.’’
Soriano crushed a grand slam off Weaver over the center-field fence in the first inning and got the right-hander for a two-run blast in the fifth that landed deep in the left-field seats.
Soriano also drove in two runs with an RBI double off Weaver in the second when the Yankees scored four runs to cop an 8-0 lead.
The seven RBIs were a personal-best for Soriano who established the milestone by driving in six runs Tuesday night.
“He’s been awesome the last two games,” said Robinson Cano, who went 4-for-4 with four singles. “Good thing is he’s having fun. You want a right-handed bat to help us win games and that’s what he is doing,’’
Girardi said once Soriano reached the 2,000-hit mark with a homer Sunday he has seen a more comfortable hitter at the plate.
Soriano admitted the milestone had become a millstone.
“My friends and family were putting a little pressure on me,’’ Soriano said. “Now I am playing more relaxed.’’
Coupled with the AL East-leading Red Sox losing, the victory pulled the fourth-place Yankees to within 8 1/2 lengths of first. After attempting to sweep four games from the Angels today the Yankees are in Boston for a three-game series this weekend.
The Yankees remained 5 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay in the wild-card chase.
Weaver opened the night on a four-game winning streak and hadn’t lost since July 13. He was also 6-3 with a 5.19 ERA in a dozen starts against the Yankees.
“When he makes a mistake and he gets part of the plate you have to put a good swing on it,’’ Girardi said of Weaver, who gave up nine runs and nine hits in five frames and is 7-6. “He has a number of different weapons he can go to. He cuts it, he sinks it and moves his fastball all around. When he makes a mistake you have to hit it.’’
Judging by the putrid outing, Weaver made plenty of mistakes and the Yankees didn’t miss many.
After starting his career with the Yankees, Soriano played for the Rangers, Nationals and Cubs and notices a big difference between The Bronx and the North Side of Chicago.
“Here there is more motivation,’’ Soriano said. “Here it’s all about winning.’’