ANAHEIM, Calif. — Phil Nevin was all set to shake Patrick Sandoval’s hand and congratulate him for seven solid innings after he walked off the mound following his 94th pitch.
Sandoval had other ideas.
Sandoval talked his way back to the mound for the eighth, and he picked up another out, in the Angels’ 5-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.
The significance wasn’t so much that the Angels needed that extra out from a starter, but that Sandoval was pitching well enough for the manager to allow himself to be persuaded.
“Every once in a while I let them win,” Nevin said. “And his words were good. I liked what he said. To me, that’s important. So I want to hear that. And he was right. He still had good stuff.”
Sandoval gave up two hits in 7⅓ innings to lead the Angels to their first series victory since taking two of three in Kansas City, June 16-18. They also won back-to-back games for the first time since June 26-27.
Not coincidentally, that was the last time the Angels had two consecutive games with a quality start. Since then, they only had one game in which a starter went at least six innings while allowing three runs or fewer, on July 2.
The Angels (48-48), who pulled back to .500 with 11 games to go before the trade deadline, have struggled in large part because of the disappointing performances from their rotation, notably Sandoval.
After posting a 2.91 ERA last season, he brought a 4.41 ERA into Tuesday’s start. He cut that number to 4.16 with one of his best efforts of the season.
Sandoval is the only Angels pitcher this season to get an out in the eighth inning, and he’s done it twice. He pitched 7⅔ innings on May 14 at Cleveland.
“He was outstanding tonight,” Nevin said.
Sandoval struck out seven and walked three. He gave up a Gleyber Torres home run on a pitch that wasn’t even a strike in the third inning, and then no more hits until the Anthony Volpe eighth-inning single that ended his night.
Sandoval’s only rough moment came in the second inning, after he issued back-to-back walks. He then struck out Kyle Higashioka and got Volpe on a grounder.
After the homer, Sandoval retired nine in a row. Giancarlo Stanton then reached on an error by shortstop Zach Neto, but he was erased on a double play. Sandoval then retired four in a row.
The key to his turnaround after the early walks, he said, was just to slow down and focus on being aggressive in the strike zone.
“After the Torres home run, he really locked in,” Nevin said. “His changeup was the best one he’s had this year. I liked the way he used his fastball. He was really efficient with his pitches.”
The Angels gave Sandoval all the run support he needed on one swing of Mickey Moniak’s bat in the first inning.
Moniak, who has been temporarily entrusted with protecting Shohei Ohtani in the lineup, drove in three runs, with a first-inning two-run homer and a fifth-inning single.
He pulled a 413-foot drive over the right field fence to get the Angels on the board first. He yanked a sharp grounder off the glove of first baseman DJ LeMahieu, who was playing in, to pad the Angels’ lead to 5-1 in the fifth.
Moniak, who had three hits, is now 160 plate appearances into his season, and showing no signs of slowing down. He’s hitting .336 with 11 homers and an OPS of 1.014.
Between Moniak’s RBIs, Ohtani drove in a run with a triple.
The offensive production was plenty on a night when the Angels got solid starting pitching, a combination that has been rare lately.
“I thought we really played a crisp baseball game today,” Nevin said.
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