HEADLINE

Voit, Yankees aim for sweep of Angels

Field Level Media

April 25, 2019 at 6:28 am.

When the New York Yankees take the field Thursday looking to complete a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., the club’s leading home run hitter will not be Aaron Judge.

Or Giancarlo Stanton.

Or Gary Sanchez.

Or Aaron Hicks.

Or Didi Gregorius.

All of them are currently on the injured list except for Sanchez, who just returned to the active roster on Wednesday. That means the Yankees need someone else to provide some power, and as of now, it’s Luke Voit who leads the team in homers with seven.

Voit knows he is expected to produce even if he doesn’t have the club’s big hitters in the lineup to protect him. He is batting second in the Yankees’ order this week after manning the fourth and third slots earlier in the season.

“A lot of the guys are out of the lineup and I’m not getting as many pitches to hit,” Voit said. “I’ve just got to stay in my zone and not swing at bad stuff, try to put myself in good counts and get pitches to hit. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t, but I’ve got to find a way, grind out at-bats and get on base for the guys — or hit home runs.”

Voit is not just hitting home runs, he’s also getting on base. He has reached base in 35 consecutive games dating back to last season, the longest active streak in the majors.

“Right now, we’re getting it done in all facets of the game,” Voit said of the club, which has won six in a row. “Obviously the home runs are nice, but we’re getting guys over, getting sacrifice flies, huge hits. Guys are stepping up in bigger roles, and it’s fun to watch.”

Masahiro Tanaka, who will start on the mound for New York on Thursday, is coming off his best start of the season. On Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, Tanaka allowed just one run and four hits in seven innings.

Tanaka has pitched brilliantly against the Angels in his career, going 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in six starts.

The Angels will counter with Trevor Cahill, who is coming off his worst start of the season. He gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings during a loss to Seattle on Saturday. Cahill hasn’t fared well against the Yankees in his career, going 1-4 with a 10.09 ERA in seven games (six starts).

This season, Cahill is giving up more home runs than usual. Primarily a ground-ball pitcher throughout his career, Cahill has yielded eight home runs in 26 1/3 innings, matching his total from last year with the Oakland A’s, when he gave up eight in 110 innings.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Cahill said. “It’s not something you think about. You’re just trying to make a pitch. I feel like maybe a handful of mistakes they haven’t missed this year and a couple of good pitches they’ve hit out, too, and then it’s more home runs.

“It’s just like (a) couple of swings. I feel like I’ve thrown less bad pitches than I did last year. I just didn’t get hurt on it. Just how baseball is.”