Bronx, NY – Alfonso Soriano keyed a New York offensive uprising Tuesday night with a career-high six RBI, and CC Sabathia picked up his first win since July 3 as the Yankees erupted late to beat the LA Angels of Anaheim, 14-7.
Soriano put the Yankees ahead with a two-run homer in the fifth, contributed a run-scoring single in the sixth and belted a three-run homer in the seventh.
"We played well tonight, the offense, everbody contributed," said Soriano. "It was a very good game for the offense and hopefully we continue to play like we did tonight."
Eduardo Nunez knocked in four runs for New York, which has taken the first two tilts of this four-game set and four of its last five overall.
Sabathia (10-10), who was 0-4 with a 7.00 ERA over his last six outings, surrendered just three hits and two earned runs over six-plus innings, but the left-hander matched a career high with six walks.
Jason Vargas (6-5) returned from the disabled list to make his first start in almost two months for the Angels. The southpaw allowed four runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. Vargas had been sidelined with a blood clot in his left armpit that required surgery.
Vargas fanned Soriano during his first two at-bats, but, in the fifth, Soriano followed a one-out single by Nunez with a drive to left field for a 4-3 New York lead.
The Angels bullpen then turned the game into a rout, surrendering four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. But before New York blew the game open, the Angels had the tying run wiped out on a questionable call.
Sabathia's control was erratic in the top of the sixth as he walked the bases loaded. Chris Nelson then got called out for leaving third base early on a sacrifice fly. However, replays showed him waiting just long enough before tagging.
"It's just one of those things, felt like we had a little bit of momentum going and after that play, it kind of switched around and went the other way," said Nelson.
Alex Rodriguez doubled home a pair to punctuate the Yankees' sixth, and Soriano's second blast made it 12-3. Nunez added a two-run single in the eighth.
Mike Trout launched a three-run homer during LA's four-run ninth.
The teams went back-and-forth through the first four innings, with the Angels scoring in the odd-numbered frames and the Yankees posting a run in the even- numbered ones.
Sabathia struck out the game's first two batters before Mark Trumbo followed a walk to Trout with a home run to left field.
Vernon Wells led off the second with his first homer since May 15, but the Angels got the run back in the third with the help of two errors. Wells scored on a Jayson Nix groundout in the fourth to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Game Notes
Sabathia's six-game winless streak tied a career high. He also went six straight starts without a win from July 3-Aug. 1, 2002 and March 31-April 27, 2003 ... Sabathia had seven strikeouts, none after the third ... The Yankees won a game by at least four runs for the first time since July 11 ... New York totaled a season-high 19 hits ... The Angels optioned starting pitcher Tommy Hanson to Triple-A Salt Lake to open a roster spot for Vargas ... Angels shortstop Erick Aybar exited in the third inning with left calf cramping. He is considered day-to-day ... There was a 26-minute rain delay in the top of the eighth.
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