Chone Figgins' single complete sweep on Yankees.
Angels 4, Yankees 3
Third baseman's single scores Kendrick with winning run; it is the Angels' first sweep of the Yankees in Anaheim since 1996.
The Angels capped a rare sweep of the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion today, Chone Figgins grounding a run-scoring single to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory, the Angels' seventh walk-off win of the season.
It was the Angels' first sweep of the Yankees in Anaheim since May 23-25, 1996.
With the score tied, 3-3, Howie Kendrick led off the ninth with a single to center off reliever Damaso Marte. Manager Mike Scioscia called for a bunt, but Gary Matthews Jr., whose last successful sacrifice bunt was in 2005, failed on two attempts and struck out.
Baseball: A photo caption with Monday's story in Sports about Sunday's Angels-Yankees game said Gary Matthews Jr. scored on the play at the plate in the fourth inning. Matthews was thrown out on that play.
Mike Napoli walked to put runners on first and second, and Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, his team's playoff hopes fading and a sense of desperation beginning to set in, turned to closer Mariano Rivera, who has a 1.43 earned-run average this season.
But Figgins hit a slow roller that somehow made its way to right field, between first baseman Wilson Betemit and second baseman Robinson Cano, and Kendrick scored easily from second with the game-winner.
In improving their major league-best record to 74-43, the Angels are now 17-5 since the All-Star break, 26-14 in their last 40 games against the Yankees and 72-60 against New York since 1996.
Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez struck out the side in the top of the ninth to gain the win.
Angels left-hander Joe Saunders pitched pretty well for a guy who looked like he might not make it out of the first inning.
It took Saunders 21 pitches to record his first out, on Xavier Nady's fielder's choice grounder. By then, two runs had scored on Johnny Damon's single, Derek Jeter's walk, Bobby Abreu's RBI single and Alex Rodriguez's RBI double.
But Saunders got Cano to ground into an inning-ending double play and gave up only one run and three hits over the next six innings, pitching out of several jams and departing with the score tied, 3-3.
The Yankees had a runner on third and one out in the fifth, but Saunders got Abreu to ground out to second with the infield in and Rodriguez to fly to right to end the inning.
Saunders struck out the side in the sixth but ran into more trouble in the seventh when Justin Christian led off with a double to left and took third on Jose Molina's sacrifice bunt.
But Saunders struck out Damon and got Jeter to pop to shallow right field, second baseman Kendrick ranging back for a nice over-the-shoulder catch to end the inning.
