AP – Los Angeles Angels' Bobby Abreu (53) steals second base as New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano … ANAHEIM, Calif. – By his own count, Torii Hunter has robbed at least 35 players of home runs. He tried to add Robinson Cano to his list, and risked serious injury doing so.
The nine-time Gold Glove winner went headfirst into the first row of seats behind the lower fence in the right-field corner in a valiant attempt to catch Cano's drive off Ervin Santana with two out in the fourth inning. Hunter emerged unscathed, but couldn't come up with the ball, and the New York Yankees got the jump-start they needed in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
"There's a tall wall, then there's a short wall. Out of my peripheral vision I saw the tall wall and I thought I was there," Hunter said. "I got close to catching it, but the short wall stopped me a little bit and tilted me over. It went out of my reach. I was just trying to make a play for Santana because he was out there pitching his butt off. I hit some guy. His friends were yelling: `Get off my friend.' It was a Yankee fan."
Cano, whose 12th homer came on a 3-2 slider, was optimistic that he had the distance. But he got concerned when he saw Hunter closing in on the ball.
"I think if he caught that one, I would have run to right field," Cano said with a grin. "It's the kind of thing where you say `Go, go go, go,' then you see him jumping and you say `Oh, no.' But then when I saw the ball bounce, I said, `OK. We're cool.' It's a good thing it ended up being a home run. I've never been robbed of a home run, and I hope it don't happen, either."
CC Sabathia came within one out of his second complete game in three starts, and Alex Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth for the Yankees, who lost the series opener by the same 3-2 score.
"CC was smart. He had a lot of off speed, keeping guys off balance," Hunter said. "He still throws 94, 95. He's a smarter pitcher than when I saw him in Cleveland all the time. The last couple years, he's changed. He pitched well. That's why he's one of the best, if not the best in the game."
Sabathia (7-3) allowed two runs, one earned, and seven hits. The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner has won his last four starts and gone at least eight innings in all four — his longest career streak in that department.
"My changeup was really what kept me in the game," said Sabathia, who is 7-2 since April 23 after going 0-1 in his first four outings. "The only reason why I pitched eight innings tonight was because they were being aggressive early in the counts and I was able to get some swings on 1-0 and 0-1, which kept the pitch count down. I was able to get some weak fly balls and ground balls with that pitch. A couple of years ago, I probably would have been in trouble."
Rookie Peter Bourjos chased Sabathia with a two-out RBI single in the ninth on the left-hander's 107th pitch, and Mariano Rivera retired Erick Aybar on a first-pitch popup to shortstop for his 15th save in 18 chances. It was Rivera's 1,003rd appearance, overtaking former Yankees Hall of Fame closer Goose Gossage for 14th place on the career list.
Rodriguez snapped a 1-all tie in the sixth with his 10th homer of the season and No. 623 for his career, driving Santana's 1-1 pitch into the rock pile in left-center field after a leadoff walk to Curtis Granderson. The two RBIs increased A-Rod's total to 1,864, tying Mel Ott for ninth place. Next up is Willie Mays at 1,903.
"I don't really think about that too much right now," Rodriguez said. "Once I'm done playing, I'll be able to take a deep breath and think about all those things and appreciate them. But right now, we're fighting for our lives with every pitch."
Santana (3-5) allowed seven hits in seven innings, struck out three and walked three. The right-hander is 1-4 in his last seven starts against the Yankees after winning his first four. He was moved up a day in the rotation after Dan Haren was scratched because of stiffness in his lower back.
"Ervin pitched well. He didn't make too many mistakes," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Cano got a 3-2 breaking ball and Alex Rodriguez got a fastball that got maybe a little too much of the heart of the plate, and they hit them out. But he certainly gave us a chance to win."
Derek Jeter was 1 for 3 with a walk, leaving him with 2,985 hits — tied with Sam Rice for 28th.
The Angels tied it in their half of the fourth with an unearned run after Jeter committed his fourth error of the season, just two fewer than he had all of last year.
The five-time Gold Glove shortstop booted a grounder toward the middle by Howie Kendrick following a leadoff double by Alberto Callaspo, who scored on Jeff Mathis' sacrifice fly.
NOTES: Kendrick was reinstated from the disabled list after missing 14 games because of a right hamstring strain, and was 0 for 3 after getting hit by a pitch his first time up. OF Reggie Willits was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. ... A ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Dean Chance, who was the Angels' first Cy Young winner in 1964. In five starts against the Yankees that season, he was 4-0 with a 0.18 ERA, four complete games and three shutouts. The Angels' only other Cy Young winner — Bartolo Colon — will face his former team in Sunday's series finale just five days after pitching his first shutout since July 5, 2006.
