Yankees’ Kuroda Hit Hard by Angels in Loss

Hiroki Kuroda can identify the moment he knew his outing was going to be a dud: Hank Conger' line drive in the second inning that smashed off the right field wall with a loud thud.

It was the first in a series of hard-hit balls off Kuroda, and the New York Yankees lost 13-1 to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.

"I think, looking back at the key moment was in the second inning with runners on first and third against Conger, I got ahead 0-2, and I pitched a pitch to hit that went up on the wall," Kuroda said through a translator. "That was the key."

Kuroda (2-2) struggled in his worst outing of the year, giving up home runs to Albert Pujols and Ian Stewart and allowing 10 hits and eight runs - six earned. The Yankees, meanwhile, had little success against C.J. Wilson, managing just Brett Gardner's two hits until the sixth inning.

Erick Aybar connected for a three-run drive and Collin Cowgill went deep against Bruce Billings, one of the pitchers called up when Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games after being caught with pine tar on his neck Wednesday night.

Wilson (3-2) gave up a run and four hits in six innings, the seventh time in eight starts he's held New York to two or fewer earned runs.

"He's got pretty good stuff," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He's got good stuff and commands the baseball with a lot of movement."

The Yankees returned home at 3 a.m. Friday from an eventful 4-3 road trip in which they lost starters Ivan Nova to a season-ending elbow injury and Pineda for two starts. They came out flat against the only AL team with a winning record against them since 2000.

The Angels improved to 66-59 against New York since the turn of the century, but have won just 5 of the last 12.

The Angels' 35 homers is a club record for March and April and leads the majors. Pujols has a majors-leading nine home runs.

Conger had a pair of RBI doubles and a run-scoring single, Aybar reached base all five times - once when Carlos Beltran dropped his flyball to right field - and scored four runs. Howie Kendrick had three of the Angels' 16 hits and scored three runs in a game that ended in front of a near-empty stadium in a light rain.

In the lineup because of his success against Kuroda and third baseman David Freese's struggles, Stewart singled in the second and hit a two-run shot in the third. He went 2 for 3 against the Yankees starter and is 8 for 16 against the righty.

"It was a fun game for us after the off day and after the way the last game went," Wilson said. "We're hitting balls all over the place."

On a chilly night, the Yankees didn't score until the sixth, when Alfonso Soriano had a sacrifice fly after Derek Jeter singled for his 3,336th hit and Beltran doubled.

The Angels sprayed hits through the Yankees' varied shifts, scoring three in the second. Conger doubled in a run, Cowgill drove in another with a sacrifice bunt to first base and J.B. Shuck had an RBI groundout.

Stewart connected in the third with two outs. After his only 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, Kuroda gave up a long homer to Pujols to start the fifth. An out after Kendrick doubled, Aybar sent a fly to deep right that hit off Beltran's glove for an error, chasing Kuroda.

"The sinker wasn't good, as well as my slider and I got behind in the count and got hit," Kuroda said.

Billings relieved and gave up an RBI double to Conger for an 8-0 lead. Aybar and Cowgill hit long balls off Billings in the seventh.

"He did his job. He did what we needed him to do," Girardi said of Billings. "When you come in as a long man, you have to be able to give some distance, and he was able to do that and save our bullpen and let the rest of the guys rest a little bit."

NOTES: Girardi said David Phelps would start in Pineda's place on Wednesday. ... Yankees backup SS Brendan Ryan (back) is scheduled to play in a rehab game for Class-A Tampa on Sunday. ... Mike Trout went 0 for 4, snapping a 13-game hitting streak against the Yankees.

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