New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Angels Match Player Stats On Aug 31, 2021

Gerrit Cole struck out a season-high 15 batters in a dominating performance, lifting the New York Yankees to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif.

The victory for New York (77-56) ended a four-game losing streak, while Los Angeles (66-68) saw its win streak halted at three.

Cole's 15 strikeouts matched the New York Mets' Jacob deGrom and the Milwaukee Brewers' Corbin Burnes for most in the majors this season. It was one shy of Cole's career high of 16 set in 2018 against the Arizona Diamondbacks while pitching for the Houston Astros.

In a matchup of potential postseason award winners, Cole (14-6) struck out Shohei Ohtani all three times they faced each other. In the ninth, Ohtani popped out against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, who earned his 25th save of the season and No. 301 for his career.

Cole, however, did see his scoreless streak end at 21 2/3 innings when David Fletcher doubled home Jack Mayfield in the sixth inning. The previous run allowed by Cole came on a home run by the Angels' Justin Upton in the first inning on Aug. 16 at Yankee Stadium.

Cole allowed four hits and one run in seven innings. He did not walk a batter and threw 116 pitches.

Upton went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts to extend his slump to 0-for-23.

Luke Voit's two-run single in the third inning off Angels starter Packy Naughton (0-1) turned out to be all the offense the Yankees would need. New York also got an RBI single from Brett Gardner in the fourth and a solo homer from Aaron Judge (No. 30) in the eighth.

Naughton, making his first major league start, threw two scoreless innings to begin the game and retired the first two batters of the third inning.

Trouble began in the third when he walked DJ LeMahieu. Anthony Rizzo followed with a line drive off the glove of first baseman Jared Walsh for a single, moving LeMahieu to third.

Judge walked to load the bases for Voit, whose single to center drove in two for a 2-0 Yankees lead.

Naughton was finished after 3 2/3 innings, having allowed three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out two.

--Field Level Media