ANAHEIM, Calif. — Joe Girardi thought Friday night was as good an opportunity as any for the next step of Gary Sanchez’s development.
He caught staff ace Masahiro Tanaka and his vast array of pitches for the first time — and it could not have gone much better for either of them.
Tanaka was as dominant as he’s been all season, striking out nine in 7 2⁄3 innings, and Sanchez had two doubles, a single, a walk and a stolen base as the Yankees cruised to a 7-0 victory over the Angels in front of 40,256 at Angel Stadium.
In the opener of a six-game West Coast trip, the Yankees (62-59) had 15 hits, including home runs by Jacoby Ellsbury, Ronald Torreyes — who had a career-high four hits — Didi Gregorius and Brian McCann.
The latter three came in the fifth inning against slop-throwing righty Jered Weaver, who entered the night 8-10 with a 5.32 ERA and left after 4 2⁄3 innings. He allowed five runs and 10 hits, including the four homers.
Sanchez, who batted third, has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats and is 21-for-50 (.420) since his call-up.
Tanaka, who came in 9-4 with a 3.40 ERA but 2-2 with a 5.55 ERA in his previous four starts, gave up five hits and didn’t allow a walk.
Tanaka retired the first 11 he faced, striking out the side in the first inning en route to recording six strikeouts through five innings. He departed with two on and two out in the eighth, giving way to lefty Tommy Layne, who walked Kole Calhoun to load the bases for Mike Trout. In came Adam Warren, who struck out Trout looking.
Girardi found his stomach turning an inning earlier, again courtesy of Trout. The centerfielder led off the seventh with a ground smash off Tanaka’s right foot. Tanaka, who had retired seven straight at that point, threw one practice pitch in front of Girardi and trainer Steve Donohue to show he was OK and promptly retired three straight to end the inning.
The Yankees gave Tanaka a lead before he stepped on the mound. Ellsbury, coming off a 2-for-20 homestand, led off by driving a 1-and-1 fastball into the rightfield seats for his fifth home run of the season, his first homer since July 10 and his first of three hits on the night. It was the first leadoff homer of the year for the Yankees.
Torreyes, getting the start at third base for Chase Headley, out with a sore left Achilles, started the third by lining a double down the leftfield line. Ellsbury fell behind 1-and-2 before singling sharply to right to make it 2-0.
The 5-10, 150-pound Torreyes got the fifth-inning power display started, leading off with his first career homer, a bomb into the bullpen area in left-center. Torreyes, exceedingly popular in the clubhouse, was mobbed in the dugout, with the Yankees reacting as if the homer had won the game. Gregorius’ 17th homer later in the inning made it 4-0 and McCann’s 16th made it 5-0.
Torreyes singled home a run and scored on Gregorius’ ground-rule double in the sixth for a 7-0 lead.
The Angels got their first baserunner with two outs in the fourth when Trout singled and their first runner in scoring position a batter later when Albert Pujols beat the shift by punching a single through the open expanse at second. Tanaka got out of it, getting Jefry Marte to ground into a 6-4 forceout.
..... - Newsday