ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels received another impressive performance from Reid Detmers on Wednesday night, but their bullpen could not finish the job.
Austin Wells broke a tie with a two-run single before Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice delivered consecutive run-scoring hits as the New York Yankees erupted for five runs with two outs in the 10th inning of a 6-3 victory at Angel Stadium.
The Yankees (80-60) took two of three games in Anaheim and moved within 3½ games of the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. The Angels (53-87) lost for the ninth time in 10 games and fell to 4-13 in extra-inning games after suffering their sixth consecutive loss beyond the ninth inning.
New York began the 10th with automatic runner Amed Rosario at second base. Jose Caballero singled to put runners at the corners before Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked against Angels reliever Luke Murphy to load the bases with one out.
Murphy appeared to be on the verge of escaping the jam after Luis Garcia Jr. popped out, but Wells pulled a 1-2 fastball past diving second baseman Christian Moore and into right field, scoring Rosario and Caballero. Bellinger followed with an RBI single to center, Grisham lined another run-scoring single to left and Rice capped the outburst with an RBI single to right, giving the Yankees a 6-1 lead.
The Angels scored twice in the bottom of the inning when Moisés Ballesteros homered off Michael Fulmer, but the deficit was too large to overcome. Murphy (0-2) was charged with the loss, while David Bednar (7-3) earned the victory after striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth.
The late offensive outburst followed a superb pitching duel between Detmers and Yankees ace Cam Schlittler. Detmers allowed one run and six hits over seven innings, striking out eight without issuing a walk. He threw 76 of his 99 pitches for strikes and lowered his major league-leading ERA since the All-Star break to 1.52.
Schlittler was even better, limiting the Angels to one run and two hits over eight innings. The 25-year-old right-hander struck out nine, did not walk a batter and threw 71 of his 99 pitches for strikes while lowering his American League-best ERA to 2.04.
“He was on the attack all night and dictating counts,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Bellinger singled, advanced to second on Rice’s infield hit and scored on Rosario’s ground-rule double down the right-field line.
Vaughn Grissom accounted for both of the Angels’ hits against Schlittler. He dropped a soft single into left field in the second inning before tying the game in the seventh by driving a 95-mph cutter over the center-field wall for a 408-foot solo home run.
Schlittler retired 17 consecutive batters between Grissom’s two hits and completed eight innings by retiring Moore, Jose Siri and Oswald Peraza in order. It marked his franchise-record 19th start this season allowing no more than one run, surpassing the previous mark of 18 shared by Ron Guidry in 1978, Whitey Ford in 1964 and Jack Chesbro in 1904.
The game was delayed for approximately 10 minutes in the sixth inning after a 79.5-mph line drive off Rice’s bat struck a photographer in the head inside the first-base camera well. The photographer was able to walk to a medical vehicle and shook Rice’s hand before being transported for further evaluation.
Both teams are off Thursday. The Angels will open a three-game series Friday in Pittsburgh, with Ryan Johnson scheduled to face Pirates right-hander Jared Jones. The Yankees will continue their road trip in San Diego, where Max Fried is slated to oppose former Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler.