• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Yanks return home to face Angels

Jun 5, 2015 - 1:24 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Yankees return to the Bronx on Friday night to kick off a three-game weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees traveled out west this past week and went 4-3 against Oakland and Seattle. They finished the trip strong with three straight wins and then got the day off day Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Yankees completed the sweep and left Seattle with a 3-1 victory behind Masahiro Tanaka, who looked razor-sharp in his first start since April 23. Tanaka worked seven innings of one-run ball, allowing just three hits while striking out nine and walking nobody. The right-hander, who spent a month on the disabled list with a strained right forearm, threw 78 pitches and retired the final 13 batters he faced.

"He looked pretty good to me," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Obviously, we'll all wait to see how he feels (Thursday), but there's no inkling that his stuff wasn't there. This is the highest velocity that we've seen from him. I think that was good for us, and it's good to have him back.

Garrett Jones hit the go-ahead home run for New York in the fourth inning, and Andrew Miller pitched 1 2/3 innings for his 17th save to become the first pitcher in Yankees history to successfully convert his first 17 saves with the club.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi gets the start for New York in Friday's opener. Eovaldi is coming off a rough outing in Oakland last weekend as he gave up three runs on a season-high 11 hits and lasted just 4 2/3 innings. It marked the second time in the last three outings he failed to make it past the fifth, although he has been working on a new splitter with pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

Eovaldi faced the Angels last season while with the Marlins and was tagged for six runs on 10 hits in just 3 1/3 innings.

The Angels will go with Jered Weaver, who is aiming for a sixth straight quality start since making an adjustment to his delivery during a bullpen session early last month. The right-hander worked 6 1/3 frames against Detroit in his most recent start, as he allowed three runs on nine hits.

Weaver has posted a 1.98 ERA over five starts since beginning the season 0-4 with a 6.29 ERA. He has been aggressive of late, walking just one batter over his last two starts (13 innings) while striking out 10. Weaver owns an 8.17 ERA in four career starts at Yankee Stadium, although he'll make this start on five days' rest.

Los Angeles just wrapped up a 10-game homestand and went 6-4. The Angels were also idle on Thursday, a day after they suffered a 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay in 10 innings.

Johnny Giavotella and Mike Trout both homered early in that one to help the Angels jump out to a 4-0 lead. But the Rays put five runs on the board in the sixth inning off starter Hector Santiago. Los Angeles would later tie the game in the ninth after Efren Navarro drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on Giavotella's single, then scored on Erick Aybar's sacrifice fly off Rays closer Brad Boxberger.

However, Tampa Bay's Kevin Kiermaier then led off the 10th with a homer off Angels closer Huston Street to end it in dramatic fashion.

"He was ahead 0-1 and then tried to get soft and got behind in the count, and Kiermaier got a fastball and didn't miss it," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That's basically it. It's gonna happen, and Huston is as consistent as any pitcher out there in the Major Leagues."

Of note for this weekend's series, Albert Pujols is two home runs away from tying Mickey Mantle on baseball's all-time home run list at 536. Pujols is a career .347 hitter (33-for-95) against New York.

This marks the first meeting of the season between these two teams. New York went 4-2 against the Halos in 2014.