NEW YORK — After beating up on Clay Buchholz, David Price and Jeremy Guthrie in the first inning, the New York Yankees turned their bats on Garrett Richards.
Brian McCann hit a two-run homer that helped chase Richards in a six-run opening frame, and the Yankees didn’t have to fret in an 8-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night that stretched their winning streak to five.
"We’re hitting 1s. We’re hitting 2s. When you’re hitting top-of-the-rotation starters, that’s what good teams do," McCann said.
A night after giving up six runs in the ninth inning of an 8-7 win, New York had an early burst that enabled Adam Warren (4-4) to coast against the Angels, who fell behind 7-0 by the second. The AL East leaders have scored six or more runs in the first inning four times — which the Yankees had not done since 1948, according to STATS.
"It just shows you that our offence is capable of being potent, even against the best pitchers," manager Joe Girardi said.
Richards (5-4) got in trouble when he walked Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez around Chase Headley’s single. Mark Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly, Headley ran home on Richards’ wild pitch and McCann homered into the right-field seats — 26 of his 32 homers since joining New York have been at Yankee Stadium.
"We thought his swing was kind of built for this ballpark," Girardi said.
After singles by Carlos Beltran and Didi Gregorius, Stephen Drew grounded to Albert Pujols, who rather than step on first for an out threw to second. While umpire Tom Hallion called Gregorius out, replays showed shortstop Erick Aybar blocked the tag with his own foot, and the call was overturned by video review.
"It caught me and Aybar off guard," Gregorius said. "He tagged himself."
Ramon Flores struck out, and Gardner hit a two-run single that chased Richards. Before this year, the Yankees had not scored six or more runs in the first since July 30, 2011, against Baltimore.
A day after missing a game because of a sore foot, Beltran added an RBI single in the second off Cesar Ramos.
Warren threw a career-high 105 pitches, giving up two runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings. He induced an inning-ending, double-play grounder from David Freese in the fourth and had a shutout until Johnny Giavotella’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.
"I feel comfortable going deeper in the game," said Warren, switched from the bullpen to the rotation this year. "Early on, the game just seemed so much longer to me."
With his parents watching from the stands after making the trip from New Jersey, AL MVP Mike Trout hit his 15th home run in the sixth, an opposite-field drive to right that cut the gap to 7-2.
Chris Capuano pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Carlos Perez to end the game in a 13-pitch at-bat. No ninth-inning drama this time.
Los Angeles has lost four straight, matching its season high, and at 28-28 is at .500 for the 11th time this year.
Richards faced 10 batters and got only two outs, matching the shortest start of his career. He lasted 37 pitches, giving up six runs, five hits and two walks. Richards has alternated wins and losses in his last six starts.
"I can’t hang my head on this," he said. "I’m just going through a rough patch right now."
ARCH ENEMY
McCann said a switch in orthotics alleviated the pain in his right foot. He had the old ones for about 3 1/2 years. "The arch on my old ones were pushing up against that muscle and it was causing them to spasm. Once that happened, it was hard to calm it down," he said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Beltran returned to the lineup after missing Friday’s game with a sore foot.
UP NEXT
Angels: C.J. Wilson (3-4) is 4-3 with a 3.07 ERA and two saves in 10 starts and 17 relief appearances against the Yankees.
Yankees: CC Sabathia (2-7) pitches on regular rest as the Yankees skip Michael Pineda this turn through the rotation to limit his innings.
