HEADLINE

Angels set to welcome injury-riddled Yankees

Field Level Media

April 22, 2019 at 5:34 am.

The New York Yankees will begin a four-game series in Anaheim on Monday against the Los Angeles Angels, but one would be hard-pressed to call them the Bronx “Bombers.”

In particular, the Yankees will be without their biggest bombers — Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, who are among a handful of the club’s top players dealing with injuries — for the entire series.

Stanton could be nearing a return as he is recovering from a strained left biceps that knocked him out of action after the first three games of the season.

The news is not so good for Judge, who suffered an oblique strain to his left side on Saturday. At this point it’s too early to tell how long he’ll be out, but he isn’t expected to be ready by the time his 10 days on the injured list is up.

Last year, the two combined for 65 home runs — 38 for Stanton and 27 for Judge. Judge did it in just 112 games, as he was sidelined for several weeks because of a broken wrist.

“What he brings on a daily basis, not just offensively with his bat and his ability to get on base at such a high level, but his defense and energy and enthusiasm, makes everyone around him better,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He’ll still be around and still find ways to do that, but obviously we might be without him for a bit.”

Good news for the Yankees is that catcher Gary Sanchez might be activated from the injured list as soon as Wednesday.

Sanchez, who has missed the past nine games with a strained left calf, will play in a rehab game for Class A Charleston on Monday, catching five or six innings. If there are no setbacks, Sanchez would fly to Anaheim Tuesday and be activated on Wednesday.

Left-hander J.A. Happ, who will start on the mound for New York, still is looking for his first victory after going 0-2 with a 7.23 ERA in his first four starts. He did not last as many as five innings in his first three starts before going 6 1/3 the last time out.

Happ has struggled against the Angels in his career, going 2-6 with a 5.57 ERA in eight starts.

Right-hander Matt Harvey will start for Los Angeles, also looking for his first win of the season. He is 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA in four starts and has looked bad in the past three, failing to last at least five innings in any of them.

Harvey has seemed to fall apart after the fourth inning in his starts. His ERA for the first four innings is not great at 6.19, but after the fourth inning, his ERA is a horrific 30.38.

“I think the first four innings show it’s right there, but things aren’t clicking on the same cylinder at the same time,” Harvey said. “It’s frustrating, but I have to keep working and push through it.”

The Angels are hoping that escaping the American League West will help, as they are 5-12 against their division counterparts this season while going 4-1 against teams outside their division.