Angels, Mike Trout hammer Yankees, Sonny Gray | Rapid reaction

The Yankees got and old-fashioned butt kicking at the hand of the Angels in a 11-4 loss at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night.

NEW YORK — It wasn’t heartbreaking. It wasn’t a close call. There wasn’t a single decision or swing or pitch that would have made things better.

No, the mighty Yankees just experienced a what they have been handing out most of the season:

The feeling of getting the spit smacked out of your mouth.

The Angels drubbed the Yankees, 11-4, in a rare Saturday night game at Yankee Stadium. 

The old warts were there for the Yankees, who have lost three of their last four games and fell two games behind in the American League East to the Red Sox, who beat the Braves on Saturday.

Starting pitcher Sonny Gray continued his season-long trend of being terrible right after looking good. The bullpen — expected to be among the league’s best — got smacked around.

First baseman Greg Bird, making his season debut, went hitless. The Yankees hit three home runs — including back-to-back shots from Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge to lead off the game, and a second-inning two-run blast from Austin Romine. Romine’s home run whacked the foul pole and was the high point for the Yankees, were went ahead 4-1.

From there, it was just about all bad.

Gray was gone after giving up five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. It was the third time in 10 starts he didn’t go at least four innings.

Gray struck out seven, but he walked three and gave up a two-run home run to Mike Trout in the fourth inning that put Los Angeles up, 5-4. That gave Trout three home runs in as many games.

Trout also doubled in a run off Gray in the first and doubled and scored in the third. 

Gray fell to 3-4 and his ERA jumped to 5.98. He’s averaging 2.8 walks per start … which is terrible. He had just come off a eight-inning, one-run outing in Kansas City. And it happened Saturday with his personal catcher, Romine, behind the plate, as designated hitter duties fell to Gary Sanchez.

Maybe the Yankees should have known bad news was coming. Entering the night, he had a 6.48 ERA in five home starts in 2018.

With Tommy Kahnle making his first appearance since April 12 due to a DL stint, Zack Cozart ripped a grounder at third baseman Miguel Andujar. Andujar fired it to second but Torres took his eyes off it and it dribbled into the outfield. Both runners were safe. There were no outs. Kahnle would go on to give up a double, a walk and a single and LA would finish the frame ahead, 9-4.

Chasen Shreve gave up a two-run blast to Jose Briceno in the seven.

The Yankees had a shot to make it much closer in the seventh, but Didi Gregorius flew out to left field with the bases loaded 

Earlier in the day, the Yankees sent fan-favorite utility man Ronald Torreyes to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Bird, returning from surgery to remove a bone spur from his right ankle.

NEXT

Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka (5-2, 4.95 ERA) vs. Angels righty Garrett Richards (4-3, 3.31 ERA) at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.