The New York Yankees belted out a season high in hits on Tuesday night, putting together their first three-game winning streak in over a month.
The offense may be harder to come by on Wednesday when the Bronx Bombers square off against Jered Weaver in the third contest of a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The surging Weaver takes the hill tonight having gone 4-0 with a 1.49 earned run average over his last five starts. He won his second straight outing on Friday in Cleveland, hurling seven innings of two-run ball. He was given a 5-0 lead early and yielded a pair of solo homers among his six hits while fanning four without a walk.
"I was pretty erratic early on, but was able to settle in later," Weaver said after moving to 7-5 with a 2.87 ERA in 16 starts this season. "I was falling behind. My command probably wasn't as good as it's been in the past, but I was able to make some pitches to get out of stuff."
The 29-year-old righty lost a home start versus the Yankees back on June 16, tagged for five runs on seven hits and four walks over six innings. Weaver fell to 6-3 lifetime versus New York with a 5.19 ERA in 12 starts.
New York will bank on that previous success as it aims to secure its longest winning streak since claiming six in a row from July 1-6.
The Yankees rattled off 19 hits in Tuesday night's 14-7 victory, with Alfonso Soriano going deep twice and logging a career-high six RBI. Vernon Wells added his first home run since May 15, while Eduardo Nunez drove in four runs.
"We played well tonight, the offense, everybody contributed," said Soriano. "It was a very good game for the offense and hopefully we continue to play like we did tonight."
CC Sabathia won for the first time since July 3, yielding just three hits but issuing a career high-tying six walks. He minimized the damage to a pair of earned runs over six-plus innings.
Sabathia also got helped out by a controversial call after walking the bases loaded with one out in the sixth. Tommy Field then lifted a fly ball to left and Chris Nelson tagged up to score what would have been a game-tying run. However, it was ruled he had left third base early and he was doubled off the bag.
New York then tagged Los Angeles' bullpen for 10 runs over the next three innings.
"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.
Mike Trout hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning and Jason Vargas took the loss in his first start in almost two months. He had been sidelined due to a blood clot in his left armpit that required surgery and allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings.
The Angels, who have lost three straight and seven of their last nine, also saw shortstop Erick Aybar exit in the third inning with a left calf injury that has him day-to-day.
Taking the hill for the Yankees is Ivan Nova, who has pitched seven innings in four straight games while yielding just two runs total and striking out 23 over his past three starts.
The right-hander did not get a decision versus Detroit on Friday, yielding a run and striking out seven. He remained 5-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.92 over 14 games this season, all but three of those starts.
Nova, 26, holds a career ERA of 5.87 in five previous meetings with the Angels, posting a 3-2 record.
Though the Angels won two of three at home versus the Yankees in June, they have lost eight of their last 10 in the Bronx and are 6-19 in their last 25 games at Yankee Stadium, including playoffs.
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