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Yanks return home to face Angels

Apr 25, 2014 - 2:40 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Yankees will put a wild -- but winning -- road trip behind them on Friday evening as they play the first of three straight against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The Yankees will play nine in a row in the Bronx after going 4-3 during a two- city swing against Tampa Bay and Boston. They lost starter Ivan Nova to Tommy John surgery on the trip, won center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury's return to Fenway Park and saw Michael Pineda receive a 10-game suspension for having pine tar on his neck in Wednesday's 5-1 loss.

New York, though, took Thursday's rubber match with the Red Sox by a 14-5 margin, pounding out 14 hits. One of those was Mark Teixeira's first homer of the season, while Yangervis Solarte drove in four runs.

Ellsbury had three hits and three RBI, and CC Sabathia earned the win after yielding two runs over six innings in New York's eighth victory in 11 games overall.

"I just wanted to go out and have a good outing," Sabathia said. "It felt good to go out and pitch good and get a win."

The Yankees tonight will start righty Hiroki Kuroda, who won two straight starts before not factoring into an 11-5 setback to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. He was charged with three runs over 5 2/3 innings, exiting with the lead.

Kuroda, 39, is 2-1 with a 4.07 earned run average on the season and comes into this outing 3-2 versus the Angels lifetime with a 2.16 ERA.

The Angels begin the last leg of a nine-game road trip having split the first six contests. They were in line for a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals before closer Ernesto Frieri blew his second save of the season in Wednesday's 5-4 setback.

Mike Trout's RBI single in the ninth inning gave the Angels a three-run lead, but Frieri began the bottom of the frame by serving up a leadoff homer to Jose Lobaton. He was later lifted after Jayson Werth's game-tying, two-run double and Adam LaRoche hit a run-scoring single off Fernando Salas to end the game.

Frieri was charged with all four runs and has a 9.35 ERA and an 0-2 record on the campaign.

"He (Frieri) just got a save the other night," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's in him. We just need to get him a little more consistent."

C.J. Wilson will try to bounce back from a loss tonight as he gets the call for the Angels in this opener.

The left-handed Wilson yielded three runs over 15 innings in consecutive wins before getting roughed up in Detroit on Saturday. He yielded four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits, two homers and three walks over just five innings of work.

"It's pretty easy to see I was inconsistent today," said Wilson, who fell to 2-2 on the year with a 4.21 ERA.

The 33-year-old has solid career numbers against the Yankees, going 3-3 with a pair of saves and a 3.16 ERA in 25 meetings, including eight starts.

The Yankees won three of four versus the Angels at home last season.