On the same day they lost the heart of their order, No. 3 hitter Torii Hunter and cleanup batter Vladimir Guerrero, to the disabled list, the Angels showed they still have a pulse.
Facing a club that had won 13 of 15 games, the Angels rode three-run home runs by Kendry Morales and No. 9 batter Erick Aybar to a 10-6 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
"It's a funny lineup," closer Brian Fuentes, who struck out Jorge Posada with two on to end the ninth inning for his major league-leading 25th save, said of the Angels.
"You look at it from top to bottom, and it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of power. But there are .280 to .300 hitters all the way through, we get hits when we need them, we move guys over, and we play the game right."
For the third time on this homestand, the Angels overcame a four-run deficit to win.
Morales' shot off starter Joba Chamberlain highlighted a four-run fifth that tied the score, 5-5, and Aybar's poke just inside the right-field foul pole off reliever Brian Bruney in the seventh turned a 7-6 lead into a 10-6 game.
"We have some depth, and we've needed all of it this year," said Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team has used the DL 13 times this season. "Those are two big bats out of the lineup, but we have guys who have a lot of confidence that they're going to produce."
They may be without three big bats today. Juan Rivera, who is hitting .312 with 16 home runs and 52 runs batted in and replaced Guerrero in the cleanup spot, was pulled in the eighth inning because of tightness in his left quadriceps and right hamstring.
Rivera reached on third baseman Alex Rodriguez's throwing error in the fifth but tripped and fell beyond the bag. He played two more innings before tightening up, and he is listed as day to day.
The Angels were trailing, 5-1, after another subpar start by Joe Saunders, who gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings, but Chone Figgins led off the fifth with a single and stole second, and Bobby Abreu hit a run-scoring single.
After Rivera reached on the error, Morales crushed the next pitch over the wall in center for his 15th homer and a 5-5 tie.
Aybar led off the sixth with a single off reliever Mark Melancon, and Figgins lined an RBI triple to right for a 6-5 lead. Abreu's broken-bat RBI single to center made it 7-5.
