ANAHEIM, Calif. – Mark Teixeira responded to relentless booing from the partisan crowd at Angel Stadium with two home runs off Joel Pineiro. Torii Hunter only wished he could have had such a day against Bartolo Colon and a shaky Yankees bullpen.
Hunter, the Los Angeles Angels' cleanup hitter, was 0 for 5 and made the last out in three innings with two runners on base. He grounded into a game-ending double play against Mariano Rivera to close out the New York Yankees' 5-3 victory Sunday in the rubber game of the three-game series.
"I couldn't get nobody in. I think I must have left six or seven guys on base myself," said Hunter, who is hitting .225 with runners in scoring position. "It's frustrating for me, personally. The last couple times, I didn't hit the ball hard. But in the past, I've crushed the ball but hit it right at guys and didn't have anything to show for it.
"That's the game of baseball. You're not going to figure it out. This is a crazy game. That's the disease called baseball. All you can do is put the bat on the ball, and try to hit it hard and hope it works out."
Rookie Mark Trumbo hit his 11th homer of the season to straightaway center on Colon's first pitch of the third, and the Angels tied it 2-all later that inning on Maicer Izturis' sacrifice fly before Colon minimized the damage by retiring Hunter on a groundout with runners at second and third.
Colon retired his first two batters in the fifth before Izturis doubled and scored on Erick Aybar's single. Hunter then hit an inning-ending flyout to right field with runners at first and second.
"Torii's a terrific ballplayer," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Nobody's feeling it any more than Torii is right now. He's very frustrated. If you look over the last couple weeks, he's been hitting the ball better. This series was a little glitch. This is one rough stretch for Torii. But overall, he's moving towards where we need him to be."
Teixeira posted the ninth multihomer game by a Yankees player this season and the 30th of his nine-year career. New York leads the majors with 88 home runs, including Nick Swisher's solo shot high off the right-field pole in the eighth against Kevin Jepsen.
"You limit the long ball and maybe you have a chance to win. But they're built off the long ball, and obviously they did that today," Pineiro said. "I guess (Teixeira) was seeing the ball well today."
Teixeira increased New York's lead to 2-0 lead in the third inning with a two-out solo homer. The switch-hitting slugger made it 4-2 in the fifth with his 18th of the season and ninth in 16 games, a towering shot to right after Pineiro (2-3) walked Curtis Granderson with two outs.
Teixeira called Anaheim home for less than three months during the 2008 season before bolting for free agency. He gets booed as loudly at Angel Stadium as Alex Rodriguez does because of the abrupt way he left to sign an eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees.
"I would expect nothing else," Teixeira said with a big grin. "I mean, it's funny because I've answered this question at probably half the ballparks I play in. When you play well and you're a Yankee, you get booed a lot — especially when you don't sign with a team after you become a free agent. But I've always said, when I stop getting booed, that means I'm not playing well anymore and I'm out of the game. So it doesn't really bother me."
Pineiro gave up four runs, nine hits and three walks over 6 2-3 innings and struck out four. The right-hander has lost three straight starts, following a pair of no-decisions.
Colon (3-3) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings as the Yankees concluded a 6-3 road trip and maintained their one-game lead over second-place Boston in the AL East. Derek Jeter had a single in five at-bats to move within 14 hits of 3,000.
A Cy Young Award winner with the Angels in 2005, Colon was coming off a 5-0 victory last Monday at Oakland — his first shutout in five seasons. The 38-year-old right-hander departed after 90 pitches with a 4-3 lead and a runner at second base before David Robertson finished the sixth, striking out Izturis with the bases loaded on his 21st pitch of the inning after a pair of two-out walks.
Joba Chamberlain fanned Howie Kendrick with two on to end the seventh, then pitched a hitless eighth. Rivera earned his 16th save in 19 chances and the 575th of his career, 26 shy of Trevor Hoffman's major league record.
NOTES: The Angels are 6 for 36 with the bases loaded. Last season they batted .297 in those situations (33 for 111). ... Jim Abbott, who spent 5½ seasons with the Angels and threw a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1993, threw out a ceremonial first pitch. ... Ex-Yankee Bobby Abreu reached base in 10 of his 13 plate appearances during the series — a double, five singles and four walks. ... Jeter has not struck out in his last 52 plate appearances, the longest streak of his 17-year career.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.