ANAHEIM -- It is, as DJ LeMahieu said, the time of year when the Yankees would like to do some scoreboard watching. That has not been an overly enjoyable endeavor of late; despite their recent surge, they still have significant ground to make up in the American League East.
Giancarlo Stanton continued to swing a white-hot bat with a pair of game-tying hits, including a jaw-dropping home run, but Clay Holmes surrendered a deciding eighth-inning knock to Juan Lagares as the Yankees absorbed an 8-7 loss to the Angels on Monday -- their third consecutive defeat.
“I thought we’ve been playing really good ball -- we’ve just come out on the short side of things the last three days,” LeMahieu said. “We’ve still got a chance to win this series and we’re looking forward to getting back after it.”
The Yankees hadn’t lost three straight games since late June, and the Rays hardly cooperated during New York’s 13-game winning streak. Monday’s loss moved the Yankees seven games back of Tampa Bay with 31 games remaining.
“Our goal doesn’t change, and that’s to win games, no matter what,” catcher Gary Sánchez said through an interpreter. “We’ve got to win as many games as we can and then at the end of it all, we’ll see where we are, according to the Wild Card or the division. But my focus doesn’t change.”
Stanton homered for the fifth time in seven games, clobbering Junior Guerra’s seventh-inning slider 457 feet into the center-field rock formation.
The drive was one of the longest and hardest-hit homers at Angel Stadium since the inception of Statcast, clocked with an exit velocity of 115.2 mph. Stanton’s homer electrified a crowd that -- for most of the night -- sounded like Yankee Stadium West.
“G’s was impressive,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I think he went up there with his plan, got a pitch and hit it up into the rocks. At the time, it tied the score, so it was a really big blow for us.”
Added Sánchez: “It’s unlike anything else when he makes contact. The ball just jumps off his bat.”
The Angels reclaimed their home in the eighth. Brandon Marsh opened the frame with a single off Wandy Peralta, and after Holmes recorded the next two outs, the No. 9 hitter Lagares lashed an RBI line-drive single to left field. Raisel Iglesias retired the side in the ninth for his 28th save.
“We just couldn’t finish it off,” Boone said.
Some good, some bad
Making his first appearance on a big league mound since May 25, Corey Kluber retired 10 of the first 11 Angels, then was peppered for five runs as the Angels batted around in the fourth inning.
Jack Mayfield’s first career grand slam was the big knock off the right-hander, who threw 43 of 68 pitches for strikes and said he felt physically fine after dealing with a right subscapular strain.
“The final line doesn’t look very good, but I think breaking it down, there’s a lot of good to take out of tonight,” Kluber said. “I felt good and executed pretty well for the most part. The home run wasn’t a very good pitch, but ... a lot of those were pretty good pitches, not a lot of hard contact. I made a bad pitch in a big spot.”
Kluber scattered five hits, walked two and struck out six before yielding to Andrew Heaney, who hung a curveball that Shohei Ohtani launched for his Major League-leading 42nd home run. All five of Ohtani’s career hits against the Yankees have been home runs.
“He’s been doing that all year,” Boone said. “Probably just not an executed pitch there in that spot, and Ohtani got him.”
Battling back
Challenged by an Angels bullpen game, the Yankees tied the game twice, but were unable to reclaim the early lead built by a pair of first-inning runs off Mike Mayers.
Their best sequence came in the fifth, when LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Aaron Judge and Stanton all laced consecutive singles, producing three runs. The Halos responded with Ohtani’s impressive 431-foot homer in the fifth and Lagares’ RBI triple over Judge’s head in the sixth.
“Ohtani is that kind of a hitter -- he’s hot and he’s got talent,” Sánchez said. “To be able to get a hitter like that out, you’ve got to execute. The other hit against Lagares, I don’t even know how he was able to get to that pitch. It’s part of the game sometimes.”