Oswald Peraza isn\u2019t exactly your prototypical cleanup hitter, yet the former Yankee looked the part against his old team on Thursday, going 2-for-4\u00a0with three RBI in the Angels\u2019 11-4, series-splitting win at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n
The third baseman, discarded by the Yankees<\/a> for minor league outfielder Wilberson De Pena and international bonus pool money last summer, gave the Halos an early lead, pulling a two-run homer to left off Max Fried in the first inning. The Yankees answered back with a first-inning solo homer from Aaron Judge, his eighth of the season and fifth in his last five games, and a two-run blast from Giancarlo Stanton, his second of the season, in the third frame. However, Peraza chased Fried from the game in the sixth with an RBI double.<\/p>\n That tied the game at three before Fernando Cruz gave up an RBI single to Vaughn Grissom and a two-run single to Josh Lowe.<\/p>\n Peraza, who also walked and stole a base in the seventh, was never much of a hitter during his time with the Yankees \u2014 he had a .548 OPS over parts of four seasons with them \u2014 but his bat tormented his ex-employer this week. The 25-year-old also had a big game on Tuesday, going 3-for-3 with a solo home run in the Angels\u2019 7-1 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe killed us,\u201d Boone said after that game. \u201cHe was right in the middle of hurting us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Peraza\u2019s home run on Thursday, meanwhile, was the first one allowed by Fried this season. The left-handed ace, a bit erratic, ended his fifth start of the year with 5.1 innings pitched, three hits, five earned runs, three walks and three strikeouts over 93 pitches.<\/p>\n The Yankees\u2019 bullpen wasn\u2019t great either \u2014 a reoccurring problem for a unit that allowed 14 runs in 18 innings this series \u2014 as recent call-up Angel Chivilli followed Cruz\u2019s subpar performance by surrendering a solo homer to Mike Trout in the seventh inning. That came after a sixth-inning solo shot from Ben Rice cut the Yankees\u2019 deficit to two.<\/p>\n Then came the eighth inning, which saw Yankees longman Ryan Yarbrough surrender a grand slam to Jo Adell after balking and intentionally walking Trout.<\/p>\n