Brian McCann hit a two-run homer that helped chase Garrett Richards in a six-run first inning, and the New York Yankees didn't have to fret in an 8-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night that stretched their winning streak to five.
A night after giving up six runs in the ninth inning of an 8-7 win, New York had an early burst that enabled Adam Warren (4-4) to coast against the Angels, who fell behind 7-0 by the second inning. The AL East-leading Yankees have scored six or more runs in the first inning four times — which they had not done since 1948, according to STATS.
Richards (5-4) allowed eight of 10 batters to reach and retired just two batters, matching the shortest start of his big league career. He lasted 37 pitches, giving up six runs, five hits and two walks. Richards has alternated wins and losses in his last six starts.
Los Angeles has lost four straight, matching its season high, and at 28-28 are at .500 for the 11th time this year.
Richards got in trouble when he walked Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez around Chase Headley's single. Mark Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly, Headley ran home on Richards' wild pitch and McCann homered into the right-field seats.
After singles by Carlos Beltran and Didi Gregorius, Stephen Drew grounded to Albert Pujols, who rather than step on first for an out threw to second. While Tom Hallion called Gregorius out, replays showed shortstop Erick Aybar blocked the tag with his own foot, and the call was overturned by video review. Ramon Flores struck out, and Gardner hit a two-run single that chased Richards.
Before this year, the Yankees had not scored six or more runs in the first since July 30, 2011, against Baltimore.
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A day after missing a game because of a sore foot, Beltran added an RBI single in the second off Cesar Ramos.
Warren threw a big league career-high 105 pitches, giving up two runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings. He induced an inning-ending, double-play grounder from David Freese in the fourth and had a shutout until Johnny Giovotella's sacrifice fly in the fifth.
With his parents watching from the stands after making the trip from New Jersey, AL MVP Mike Trout hit his 15th home run in the sixth, an opposite-field drive to right that cut the gap to 7-2.
Chris Capuano got the last three outs, striking out Carlos Perez to end the game in a 13-pitch at-bat.
