Calhoun thrills, but Angels fall to Yanks in extras

ANAHEIM -- Kole Calhoun had already robbed the Yankees twice, but there was no bringing this one back. He could only watch in vain as Didi Gregorius' deep drive off Blake Parker sailed into the right-field bleachers for a go-ahead home run that lifted the Yankees to a 4-3 comeback win over the Angels in 10 innings in Friday night's series opener at Angel Stadium.
The Angels took a 3-2 lead when Andrelton Simmons ripped a two-run triple off Luis Severino in the seventh, but the Yankees tied it on Brett Gardner's sacrifice fly off reliever Keynan Middleton in the top of the ninth. Gregorius then delivered the decisive hit in the 10th, crushing a 1-1 fastball from Parker to right-center field to extend the Yankees' winning streak to seven games.

"I was trying to go down and away," Parker said. "Yanked it back up and in, right to his sweet spot."
It was Gregorius' 10th home run of the season, tied with Mike Trout for the MLB lead, and his fifth in six games.
Shohei Ohtani put the Angels on the board with his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to right field off Severino in the second inning, but he exited the game after suffering a mild left ankle sprain on a groundout in the fifth and is considered day to day. Albert Pujols singled in the seventh to collect his 2,995th career hit.
• Ohtani homers, exits with ankle sprain

The Angels have lost seven of their last 10 games to fall to 16-10 on the season.
Calhoun went 0-for-3 and remains mired in a 2-for-39 slump, but he stymied the Yankees twice with his glove. In the third, top Yankees prospect Gleyber Torres lined a curveball from left-hander Andrew Heaney to right field, but Calhoun charged into the gap and laid out to make an incredible diving catch to deny Torres a leadoff hit.
"He hit it a lot better than I thought," Calhoun said. "I thought he kind of got it off the end. Kind of took a little weird route to it, kind of had to go back a little bit. When I left my feet, I thought it'd be pretty close."
Calhoun then kept the Angels within striking distance by robbing Neil Walker of a three-run homer in the sixth on play that led to some confusion from both managers and dugouts.
With the game tied, 1-1, Gregorius led off the inning with a bunt single to knock Heaney out of the game. Giancarlo Stanton then reached on a rare fielding error by Simmons, and the runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch by reliever Jim Johnson.
Johnson struck out Gary Sánchez for the first out before surrendering a deep fly ball to right field to Walker, but Calhoun leapt at the wall to make the grab. He then threw to second to double off Stanton, who was ruled to have left the base too early. Gregorius tagged and scored from third on the play to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

"Kole's never going to let anything get in the way of what he does in right field," manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's a Gold Glove right fielder. You saw a lot of that tonight. He kept us in the game, for sure."
Heaney was charged with two runs (one earned) and struck out nine over five-plus innings in his third start of the season for the Angels. Heaney began the regular season by pitching from the third-base side of the rubber, but he decided to revert back to the first-base side on Friday after giving up 11 runs over 9 1/3 innings in his first two outings.
"Personally, I feel a lot more comfortable on the first-base side," Heaney said. "It's kind of where I've always been since early in pro ball in the Minor Leagues, Just kind of trying to tweak it a little bit. Just always evolving, trying to be a better pitcher."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Yankees rally in the ninth: Middleton took the mound in the ninth looking to protect the Angels' 3-2 lead, but he fell into trouble after issuing a leadoff walk to Sanchez and yielding a one-out double to Miguel Andújar. After the Angels intentionally walked Torres to load the bases, Gardner produced a sacrifice fly to left field to score Sanchez from third to tie the game. It was Middleton's first blown save of the year.
"You like to hold leads," Scioscia said. "We've been doing a good job of it. We didn't get it done tonight."

Ohtani goes deep: Batting fifth and serving as the designated hitter, Ohtani gave the Angels a 1-0 lead in the second inning after drilling a 97.2-mph inside fastball from Severino to right field for a solo homer. The ball rocketed off Ohtani's bat at 112 mph and traveled an estimated 410 feet, according to Statcast™.
"He's good," Severino said. "What can I say, you know? Next time, I'm not throwing inside anymore. He's a good hitter. I threw a good pitch over there. I have to tip my cap."

In his next at-bat in the fifth, Ohtani hit a broken-bat grounder to second and tweaked his ankle as he stepped awkwardly on first base. Ohtani limped off the field and was replaced by pinch-hitter Luis Valbuena in the seventh.
"When he stepped on the bag, he just kind of rolled it a little bit," Scioscia said. "We'll just evaluate it day to day."

UP NEXT
Garrett Richards (3-0, 3.46 ERA) will battle Masahiro Tanaka (3-2, 5.28 ERA) on Saturday night as the Angels and Yankees continue their three-game series at 6:07 PT at Angel Stadium. Richards is 0-3 with a 6.65 ERA in five career appearances against the Yankees.