ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The Angels, who had been playing well, did nothing to cool off the Yankees. Maybe the defending world champion Astros will have better luck.
With CC Sabathia turning in seven terrific innings and Gary Sanchez providing just enough offense, the Yankees made it nine straight wins with a 2-1 victory over the Angels on Sunday night at Angel Stadium.
The Yankees (18-9) have outscored the opposition 64-18 in the streak. They will start a four-game series against the Astros, who beat them in a classic seven-game ALCS last October, on Monday night in Houston.
After Sabathia allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, lowering his ERA to 1.71 in five starts, Chad Green allowed two runners to reach in the eighth _ a leadoff walk to Mike Trout and a two-out single by Andrelton Simmons. But he struck out Zack Cozart to end the inning.
Aroldis Chapman walked a batter with one out in the ninth but made it six straight appearances without allowing a run for his sixth save. With a runner on second, he struck out Ian Kinsler on a slider to end it.
Angels left-hander Tyler Skaggs pitched well in his first career appearance against the Yankees, allowing two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out eight but couldn't overcome his biggest mistake, which resulted in Sanchez's seventh homer, a two-run shot in the fourth that made it 2-0.
After Skaggs struck out two in the first, the Yankees threatened in the second. Giancarlo Stanton worked a walk and, after Sanchez struck out, went to second on Aaron Hicks' chopper to second. Neil Walker, coming off a two-RBI night Saturday, struck out swinging to end the threat.
The Angels threatened in the third but came up empty. The inning turned out to be memorable for the near ejection of Aaron Boone, which would have been the first of his managerial career.
Sabathia retired the first two hitters but Kinsler doubled to left-center on a 3-and-1 fastball. Trout bounced a routine grounder to short, but Didi Gregorius, stellar all season in the field, sailed his throw to first for an error, which put runners at the corners.
Sabathia thought he had Justin Upton struck out on a 1-and-2 fastball, but Angel Hernandez called the borderline pitch a ball. Sabathia made a face in reacting to the call. Upton grounded out to third one pitch later, and Hernandez made his way up the first-base line, seeming to shout at Sabathia as he walked toward the dugout. Sabathia appeared to shout, "Don't talk to me! Call (expletive) strikes!" in reply.
Boone darted from the dugout and got in Hernandez's face to end the back-and-forth but stayed in the game.
The Yankees took the lead in the fourth. Stanton doubled on a full-count fastball and Sanchez stepped into an 0-and-1 fastball, hammering it well into the seats in left-center. The blast gave Sanchez at least one hit in 12 of his last 15 games, with six homers and 21 RBIs in the stretch.
Sabathia took apart the Angels with almost surgical precision until the sixth, and even then it's not as if he started surrendering barrel shots.
Upton had an infield hit with one out and Albert Pujols flared a broken-bat single to center, which put runners at the corners. With Simmons up, Sabathia planted a changeup in the dirt short of the plate for a wild pitch that brought in Upton to make it 2-1. Sabathia stopped it there, getting Simmons to pop to short and Cozart to fly softly to left.
Sabathia ended the inning at 81 pitches and had not allowed much hard contact, so Boone sent him back for the seventh. He retired the first two batters and shrugged off a bad break when Gregorius lost his footing on a routine grounder by Rene Rivera. Sabathia retired his final batter, Kinsler, on a fly ball.
