Pineiro Brilliant, Bullpen Less Brilliant, But Angels Hang On In New York

Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Joel Pineiro struck out seven and gave up one run in seven innings, and Erick Aybar had two hits, drove in one and scored twice out of the leadoff spot in a 5-3 Angels win against New York at Yankee Stadium.

Bobby Abreu and Torii Hunter each collected a pair of hits and an RBI for the Angels, who dropped the opener to this three-game set, 7-5, on Tuesday.

Pineiro (1-1) scattered five hits and did not issue a walk in his second start for Los Angeles. The sinker specialist induced 11 groundouts to get his first victory as an Angel after winning 15 games for the Cardinals in 2009.

Fernando Rodney got his first save for tossing a scoreless ninth in place of Brian Fuentes, who landed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a tweaked muscle in the left side of his back.

New York's Javier Vazquez (0-2) lasted 5 1/3 innings, yielding four runs on six hits in failing to bounce back from a poor season debut. The veteran right-hander was tagged for eight runs in 5 2/3 innings to open his second tour of duty with the club last Friday.

Nick Johnson and Mark Teixeira drove in runs during the eighth in an attempted comeback for the Yankees, who had a three-game win streak halted. Nick Swisher added an RBI triple in defeat.

The Angels left two runners stranded in the first, then picked up the game's first two runs in the third. Brandon Wood led off with a single, stole second and scored on a base hit by Aybar, who raced home from first on a double to the right-center field gap by Abreu.

Vazquez pitched out of trouble by retiring Hunter on a fly ball and Hideki Matsui on strikes before Abreu was caught stealing third.

The Yankees went in order in each of their next two turns at the plate before Swisher laced a 2-2 sinker into the gap in left center to score Robinson Cano for only his seventh career triple in over 2,600 at-bats.

LA countered with another two-run frame in the sixth to open up a 4-1 advantage. Hunter led off with a double and took third on a wild pitch. Matsui was retired on strikes for the first out, but Kendry Morales lifted an RBI double to right-center to end Vazquez's outing.

Alfredo Aceves entered and got Juan Rivera to ground out, but Maicer Izturis' base hit scored Morales for a three-run edge. The Halos tacked on another run in the seventh with Hunter's RBI single.

The Yanks rallied off reliever Scot Shields in the eighth but it wasn't enough. Brett Gardner drew a leadoff walk, Derek Jeter singled and Johnson followed suit to plate one. Kevin Jepsen was brought in to face Teixeira and uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners, then yielded an RBI groundout before escaping the inning.

Alex Rodriguez walked to keep things moving but Jepsen got Cano to bounce into a fielder's choice and struck out Jorge Posada. Rodney got both Curtis Granderson and Swisher to foul out in the ninth and induced a fly ball from Gardner to end the game.

The Angels improved to 3-6 on the season and will send lefty Scott Kazmir to the hill on Thursday opposite Phil Hughes, who will be making his first start for New York since being named the fifth starter out of Spring Training...Jeter and Cano had the only multi-hit games for New York...Teixeira went 0-for-4 to dip his average below .100 (.097)...Matsui was 0-for-4 and is without a hit in nine at-bats during the series...The Angels recalled outfielder Reggie Willits from Class-A Rancho Cucamonga and pitcher Francisco Rodriguez from Triple-A Salt Lake, while re-assigning pitcher Bobby Cassevah to Salt Lake on Wednesday. Willits was rehabbing a strained hamstring.