ANAHEIM, Calif. — As ugly as Monday night was for the Yankees, Tuesday was much cleaner, if still not perfect.
There was Spencer Jones, who went deep for the second time in as many nights, reached base four times and drove in three runs to keep showing he deserves at-bats even once the Yankees are whole.
There was Jazz Chisholm Jr., who went back-to-back with Jones in the first inning on the way to a three-hit night, offering more hope his recent hot streak is a sign of things to come down the stretch.
And there was Gerrit Cole, pitching in his backyard and building on a strong stretch in which he’s continued to look like himself before his bullpen picked him up.
The Yankees wasted some chances to fully blow the game open and make things even more comfortable late, but they did enough to get back on track with a 7-3 win over the lowly but newly sold Angels at Angel Stadium.
“Scoring in the first in any game, especially a game bouncing back after a loss, is huge,” Jones said. “Just being able to play with a lead for the majority of the game and bring the offense early is big for the team.”
Bouncing back from an error-filled, 10-1 letdown in Monday’s series opener, the Yankees (79-60) kicked off the final month of the regular season by staying 4 ¹/₂ games back of the Rays for the division with 23 games left to play, while moving back to four games ahead of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card.
Cole’s night ended on a sour note, when he gave up a two-run triple to Christian Moore with one out in the sixth inning that pulled the Angels within 4-3.
But Brent Headrick came on to leave the tying run at third, now having stranded 38 of 42 inherited runners this season.
The Yankees then created some breathing room late — a rally started by Jones’ second walk of the night and Chisholm’s third hit — as the scuffling Trent Grisham (2-for-42) fouled off a pair of bunt attempts before roping a single for the 5-3 lead off lefty reliever Samy Natera Jr.
“That’s everyone doing a little something tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said.
After Paul Goldschmidt added a pinch-hit sacrifice fly, Jones made it 7-3 in the ninth inning with a left-on-left single to plate Cody Bellinger, who recorded three of the Yankees’ 14 hits.
“[Jones] is a great player, he’s a great kid,” Chisholm said of the right fielder who is batting .348 with a 1.044 OPS over his past 15 games. “We’ve heard about him for years and now he’s getting a chance to show it. I’m really happy for him.”
The late runs allowed Boone to use new reliever John Schreiber for the bottom of the ninth — after Headrick and Paul Blackburn each recorded four outs — and the side-armer delivered a 1-2-3 frame to close it out.
Cole entered the night having pitched to a 2.41 ERA in six career starts at Angel Stadium, where he grew up going to games near his home in Newport Beach.
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But when the Yankees made their annual trip here last season, in late May, Cole was still not yet throwing as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Now, he is 18 starts back from the major elbow surgery with a 3.29 ERA, looking primed for the stretch run.
“I’m very excited for him and Carlos [Rodón] and really the pitching staff for the Yankees, because these guys are going into the primes of their season in the playoffs,” superagent Scott Boras, who counts Cole and Rodón among his many clients, said before the game from his field-level suite. “Normally you’ve spent 190 innings, 180, and you got to get through the playoffs. But they have three starters [Cole, Rodón and Max Fried] that are very, very fresh — and veteran starters, on top of it. So it gives them an advantage few teams have.”
