NEW YORK -- Carlos Beltran lifted a two-out, three-run homer off lefty reliever Jose Alvarez in the bottom of the eighth, sending the Yankees to a come-from-behind 5-2 victory over the Angels on Monday night.
"I wasn't really thinking homer," Beltran said. "I was thinking more base hit to right field. As soon as it left the bat, I knew that I hit it well."
Angels starter Matt Shoemaker, who entered with a 1.59 ERA over his previous three starts, held the Yankees scoreless through the first six innings, then gave up back-to-back solo homers to Brian McCann and Starlin Castro with two outs in the seventh, allowing New York to tie the game at 2.
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With two outs in the eighth, Shoemaker faced the top of the Yankees' lineup for the fourth time and got in trouble once more, giving up back-to-back singles to Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner. That prompted Angels manager Mike Scioscia to remove Shoemaker, even though he had only thrown 93 pitches.

"It got to a point in the game when we were just trying to turn Beltran around," Scioscia said. "Shoe had trouble closing out that seventh inning and the eighth inning, so we felt it was better to turn him around and get that last out in the eighth."
Beltran -- with an .875 OPS against righties and a .728 OPS against lefties heading in -- got an 0-1, 91-mph fastball out over the plate and sent it out to right field to give New York its only lead. Aroldis Chapman then closed it out in the ninth.

"There's power in this offense," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "It hasn't come out the way it's capable of."

Masahiro Tanaka did not factor in the decision, but allowed two runs over seven innings.

Andrew Miller struck out the side in the eighth to pick up the win.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
3-run HR drought ends: Beltran's decisive homer in the 8th -- his 14th of the season -- was the Yankees' first three-run home run since April 7. The ball traveled just 348 feet, but it was good for Beltran's 17th career go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later.
"I was trying to keep him from extending his arms, but I think it ran a little bit over the heart of the plate," Alvarez said in Spanish. "He got a good part of the bat on it. He got a good part of the bat on it. When it left, I thought it was a fly ball. It didn't go very far. Perhaps in another stadium it stays, but we're playing here." More >

Shoe stays aggressive: Shoemaker got a tough-luck loss, but continued his dominant run of pitching. He has now recorded 39 strikeouts since his last walk, facing 132 batters in that span. He joined Curt Schilling as the only other pitcher since 1913 to go seven-plus innings with six-plus strikeouts and zero walks in four consecutive starts. Shoemaker has a 2.37 ERA in that span, but he couldn't really enjoy that postgame.
"I felt like I pitched really well today," Shoemaker said. "Towards the end, a couple of things got away." More >

Twice as nice: McCann and Castro awoke a restless Yankee Stadium crowd in the seventh inning with back-to-back solo homers to knot the game at 2. New York managed just two hits from the second through the sixth inning.
"The pitcher was pitching a great game," Beltran said. "We tied the game with two swings."

Almost there: Ellsbury somehow managed to loft a base hit into a shallow center field, extending his arms on a well-located splitter from Shoemaker to keep the eighth inning going. The Angels were playing no-doubles defense, and center fielder Mike Trout pulled up just short of the ball without attempting a dive. He thought about laying out.
"And then, last second, I just told myself to just try to keep it in front of me and keep them from scoring," Trout said. "If I lay out, maybe I catch it."
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Rafael Ortega dove for a sinking liner off the bat of Castro, stopped it on a short-hop, got up and threw the Yankees' second baseman out trying to stretch it to a double in the second inning. It was Ortega's sixth assist this season, tied for second among Major League outfielders even though 93 of them had logged more innings when the week began.

With his third-inning walk, Trout became one of six players since 1901 to tally 400 walks and 500 runs before his age-25 season. The others: Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx and Arky Vaughan.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
The Yankees burned their challenge early, when they were unable to get a caught stealing on Ellsbury overturned. Replay showed Ellsbury's left foot might have reached second before Gregorio Petit's tag, but replay officials ruled there wasn't enough conclusive evidence to overturn the call.

The missing challenge cost the Yankees in the third, when Trout picked up a stolen base but looked out at second. Trout, however, did not score. In the seventh, umpires conducted a crew-chief review to overturn another safe call at second, this time giving the Yankees an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

WHAT'S NEXT
Angels: Veteran left-hander David Huff will be called up to make a spot start at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, his first in the Majors this year. Huff, who spent parts of the 2013 and '14 seasons with the Yankees, has a 5.08 ERA in 388 career Major League innings and a 5.40 ERA in three starts for Triple-A Salt Lake. The game is scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. PT first pitch.
Yankees: Right-hander Michael Pineda (2-6, 6.41 ERA) has struggled, but appeared to turn a corner on June 2 in a 5-4 Yankees win at Detroit, tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts and no walks. He'll hope to continue that good fortune against the Angels in a 7:05 p.m. ET start.
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