Richards, Angels roughed up by Yankees

ANAHEIM -- Before the Angels had an opportunity to bat on Saturday night, the Yankees had all the runs they needed to snatch their second straight victory at Angel Stadium. Garrett Richards allowed the Yanks to bat around in a five-run first inning, and New York didn't look back en route to an 11-1 victory.
Richards never recovered, completing only 1 2/3 innings, giving up nine runs (five earned) on five hits and three walks. An error by fill-in shortstop Zack Cozart and a Martín Maldonado passed ball contributed to the Bombers' early onslaught.
• Yanks score 10 in 1st 2 frames, win 8th straight
"The Yankees have a deep lineup, but when you give them five outs, you're gonna pay a price for that, and we did," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, whose club has lost eight of its last 11 games after starting the season 13-3. "Garrett wasn't making some of the pitches he needed to, that's obvious, but I think some of the damage was -- some of the runs were obviously unearned."
Cozart hit a line-drive homer over the short porch in left field in the fifth inning, but that was all the Angels managed against Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees' right-hander allowed one run on two hits and two walks while striking out nine over a solid six innings.

"He kept us off balance," Cozart said. "He threw a lot of sliders, a lot of splitters. I feel like he just didn't give us much to hit. He pitched well."
The Angels only had six hits on the night -- the homer, four singles and Luis Valbuena's double. The usual suspects are still mired in slumps. Kole Calhoun has three hits in his last 43 at-bats after going 1-for-4 on Saturday. Justin Upton, after going 0-for-3, has just four hits in his last 37 at-bats. And Maldonado is in an 0-for-32 skid.
"You're going to have parts of any season when, if you take a cross section, there's going to be times when you have some guys that are struggling during a 60-, 75-at-bat range," Scioscia said. "We've got some guys that are there now. They'll turn it around. We're still extremely confident that our offense is gonna be a big part of what's going to get us going this year."
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Cozart's error extends rally: With runners on first and second with one out in the first, the game was still scoreless when Cozart booted a ground ball to shortstop. The high chopper wasn't a great double-play candidate, but it could have resulted in a second out and left runners on second and third. Instead, the Yankees scored the first of five runs in the inning.
"My instincts told me to go get it, and I should've just gloved it with one hand instead of trying to use two hands," Cozart said. "I should've just slowed it down and got the one out instead of trying to get two."
Cozart slid over from his usual third-base position to fill in for Andrelton Simmons, who sat out after experiencing tightness in his forearm lingering from a Johnny Cueto plunking on Sunday.

MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Neil Walker struck out to seemingly end Richards' disastrous first inning with the Angels trailing, 3-0, but Maldonado misplayed the curveball in the dirt that got Walker swinging for a passed ball. Maldonado threw to first for what was initially ruled an out, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone challenged and the call was overturned, scoring a run from third and extending the inning.

UP NEXT
The Halos will look to snap a three-game losing streak when they close out their series against the Yankees at 5 PT on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. They will face CC Sabathia, who is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA. The Angels will trot out Tyler Skaggs, who is coming off of his best start of the season, seven shutout innings on Monday in Houston. It was the first time Skaggs had completed seven innings this year. He is 3-1 with a 2.96 ERA and 24 strikeouts on the season.