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CC Sabathia, Yankees stop Angels in their tracks, 6-5

New York Yankees' CC Sabathia delivers against the Angels in the second inning at Angel Stadium.
(Michael Nelson / EPA)
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Sunday’s Father’s Day matchup between the Angels’ Jered Weaver and the Yankees’ CC Sabathia was billed as a battle of aces.

But while Sabathia was dealing Weaver was reeling, matching a season high by giving up five runs in six innings of a 6-5 Yankees win that snapped a pair of streaks.

For New York, the win ended the team’s second five-game losing streak of the season. For the Angels the loss stopped a three-game winning streak — but they didn’t go quietly, rallying for five ninth-inning runs to make the game close.

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Weaver looked shaky from the outset, with the Yankees loading the bases with one out in the first inning. But Weaver escaped that jam when Vernon Wells hit into an inning-ending double play.

Weaver was a strike away from getting out of another jam in the third inning after a single, a walk and a stolen base put two Yankees in scoring position with nobody out.

But Travis Hafner lined a two-out, two-strike pitch just over the wall in center for a three-run home run. That wasn’t the end of Weaver’s troubles. Wells followed with a two-strike single and raced home on Lyle Overbay’s double, which glanced off Peter Bourjos’ glove at the wall.

Jayson Nix followed that with a single of his own, scoring Overbay to make it 5-0 Yankees when Chris Iannetta was unable to handle Mike Trout’s one-hop throw from left field.

A sacrifice fly by Wells off reliever Jerome Williams accounted for the Yankees’ final run — which proved to be the winning run — in the eighth.

For Weaver (1-3), who also matched season highs for hits (7) and walks allowed (4), it was his second consecutive poor outing, coming five days after he allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings of a loss at Baltimore. Weaver’s ERA has jumped more than a run and a quarter — to 4.77 — in those two starts.

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For Sabathia (7-5), Sunday’s performance was arguably his best of the season, with the left-hander pitching into the ninth, allowing two runs, five hits and three walks while striking out six.

He also weathered a rough start when the first two Angels reached base. But Albert Pujols bounced into a double play and Sabathia, who won for the third time in four starts, retired the next 10 batters in order.

The Angels finally got to a tiring Sabathia in the ninth when Mike Trout lead off with a double and Pujols drew a walk. Sabathia then made a walk of his own — to the dugout. Reliever David Robertson gave up a run-scoring single to Mark Trumbo and then walked pinch-hitter J.B. Shuck.

Mariano Rivera, making his final regular-season appearance in the stadium where he made his big-league debut in 1996, followed and nearly gave Sabathia’s win away. After getting Erick Aybar to ground out, he gave up consecutive singles to Alberto Callaspo, pinch-hitter Brad Hawpe and Bourjos, cutting the Yankees’ lead to 6-5. He then walked Mike Trout to bring Albert Pujols to the plate with the bases loaded but Pujols struck out on a check swing, giving Rivera his 24th save of the season.

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