At long last — the first time in a week — the Yankees have won a game.
It was not the prettiest way to get off the schneid, but off the schneid they finally are.
Back-to-back home runs from a pair of slumping hitters, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt, gave the Yankees a lead in the second inning and they were able to make it stand to snap a six-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over the Angels on a sweltering Thursday afternoon in The Bronx.
“Definitely feels good hearing the music again and coming out with the ‘W,’ ” said Cody Bellinger, who led the way with a three-hit effort.
Carlos Rodón gave up a season-high three home runs, but they were all of the solo variety, allowing the Yankees (43-31) to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Angels (36-38).
After suffering through a 30-inning scoreless streak earlier this week, the Yankees broke out a bit Thursday with 12 hits and scoring as many runs as they had in their previous seven games combined.
“Obviously, these last few games haven’t gone our way,” Goldschmidt said. “Today was good. But we got to keep going. It’s a long season. It’s a long season when you’re playing well, it’s a long season when you’re losing a few games in a row and we understand that. So we’ve done a good job just taking it day by day. Today was a good example of that. We’ll do that the whole year and see what happens.”
As they have too often over the past week, the Yankees made another baserunning blunder that ended a rally too early in what was then a 4-3 game.
This time it was Austin Wells taking off from first base too early before a full-count, two-out pitch to DJ LeMahieu in the sixth inning, with lefty Tyler Anderson throwing over and eventually picking off Anthony Volpe between second and third.
But an inning later, Bellinger capped off his three-hit day with an RBI single to right field that scored Grisham, who had doubled, for a key insurance run.
After the second rain delay of the game (this one 35 minutes), the Yankees padded their lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Aaron Judge started the rally with a double, his first extra-base hit since homering off Garrett Crochet last Friday. He went 1-for-3 with a walk after entering the day 3-for-28 over his last eight games.
“This game, over 180 days, will beat you up,” Grisham said. “I don’t think you really understand it until you get to this level. But when you get to a team like this with a bunch of veterans around, seeing the way they lead and the way they’re consistent day in and day out, it rubs off on some guys.”
To a man, the Yankees insisted there was no panic in the clubhouse coming into Thursday’s game, chalking it up to a rough week in a long season. But the win — their first since a 1-0 decision over the Royals last Thursday — allowed them to breathe a little easier heading into a weekend series against the Orioles.
It helped having an offense Thursday that answered immediately when Rodón gave up two early runs.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Goldschmidt led off with a double and Bellinger singled before Giancarlo Stanton grounded into a fielder’s choice to tie it.
Down 2-1 in the bottom of the second, Grisham delivered a two-out, two-run home run, his first since May 30, to take a 3-2 lead.
Two pitches later, Goldschmidt made it back-to-back jacks as he continued to mash lefties, this one off Anderson.
“I think it’s just nice when they come in bunches,” said Grisham, who later added a double out of the nine-hole. “The more, the better.”