ANAHEIM, Calif. — Andy Pettitte threw eight sharp innings, Robinson Cano had four hits, and Nick Swisher and No. 9 hitter Francisco Cervelli each drove in two runs for the New York Yankees in a 7-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.
Pettitte (3-0) allowed six hits, struck out eight and walked none. The two-time All-Star gave up his only run on Torii Hunter's sacrifice fly in the sixth after getting staked to a 6-0 lead. It was the left-hander's 30th regular-season start against the Angels, the team he beat in the Yankees' home opener with six scoreless innings on April 13.
Joel Pineiro (2-2) worked six innings and allowed six runs, two more than he gave up in 20 1/3 innings over his first three starts. The Yankees got 11 of their 14 hits against the right-hander.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was in the DH spot for the first time this season, while Nick Johnson got the day off because of some slight back stiffness. A-Rod went 1-for-5 and twice struck out looking.
Ramiro Pena made his first start at third this season for New York and made his presence felt defensively by robbing former Yankee Juan Rivera of a hit in the second inning with a diving catch of his line drive in the hole. One inning later, Pena made a nice play to short-hop a throw from left fielder Brett Gardner and slap the tag on Mike Napoli as he tried to advance from first base on Brandon Wood's single.
The Yankees got on the board first with an RBI double by Swisher in the second inning and added three more in the fourth. Cervelli, who made his fourth start behind the plate in place of Jorge Posada with the Yankees playing a day game after a night game, hit a two-run single with the bases loaded and Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single.
The defending World Series champions tacked on two more in the fifth. Gardner led off the fifth with a triple, his third hit of the game, and scored on a single by Cano — who came around on a wild pitch, a passed ball and a single by Swisher to make is 6-0. Pettitte then struck out the side in the bottom of the inning.
Mark Teixeira drove in the Yankees' final run with an RBI single in the seventh against Scot Shields. It was the right-hander's first appearance since last Tuesday, when he walked three batters in the seventh inning and was charged with three runs. The Angels will continue to use Shields in non-critical situations until he straightens himself out. His ERA in six outings this season is 14.55.
Notes
X-rays taken on catcher Bobby Wilson's injured left ankle were inconclusive because of the swelling that resulted from his collision with Teixeira during Friday's series opener. Wilson, who made his first big league start in that game, also had a concussion and was placed on the 15-day disabled list late Friday night. … With Wilson and Jeff Mathis both on the DL, it's the first time the Angels have had more than one catcher on the DL at the same time since the 2001 season, when Bengie Molina, Jorge Fabregas and Jose Molina all were put on it during a 17-day span. … Pineiro has allowed one walk in his last three starts, an intentional pass to Curtis Granderson in the fourth inning. … Hideki Matsui, who spent the previous six seasons with the Yankees and was last year's World Series MVP, had two singles and is one hit away from 1,000 in the major leagues.