ANAHEIM, Calif. — Even on a day when their rotation took a hit, the Yankees continued to roll.
Hours after the Yankees announced Clarke Schmidt would be shut down for four to six weeks with a strained lat, Carlos Rodon just kept chugging along, pitching six strong innings and receiving plenty of late run support on the way to an 8-3 win over the Angels on Thursday night at Angel Stadium.
Rodon allowed a solo home run in the second inning but didn’t flinch, going on to retire 14 straight batters after that before running into some trouble in the seventh.
He was eventually charged with three earned runs — becoming the first Yankees starter to allow more than two since May 11, snapping a record-breaking streak of 16 straight games pitching at least five innings and giving up two or fewer runs — but it hardly mattered.
With the win over the Angels (21-35), the Yankees (39-19) clinched the series victory — doing so for the 14th time in their first 18 series of the season for only the seventh time in franchise history.
After improving to 4-2 on their 10-day, nine-game West Coast swing, the Yankees flew to San Francisco, where they will finish off their longest trip of the season this weekend.
Aaron Judge put the Yankees ahead for good in the fourth inning by crushing a two-run shot, a 433-foot blast that tied him for the major league lead with 18 home runs.
It marked his 14th home run in the last 31 games and 12th in the last 23 games.
The Yankees then sent nine men to the plate in the seventh inning to break the game open and score five insurance runs.
Alex Verdugo, who extended his hitting streak to 11 games earlier in the night, led off the inning with a walk before taking third on a hit-and-run single by DJ LeMahieu.
Angels reliever Adam Cimber then walked three straight batters — Jose Trevino, Oswaldo Cabrera and Anthony Volpe — to force in a pair of runs.
Volpe’s plate appearance came on a night when his 21-game hitting streak came to an end, but instead of chasing a hit, he worked a full-count walk to make it a 4-1 lead.
Juan Soto came up next and delivered the knockout punch off lefty reliever Jose Suarez, chopping a triple down the right-field line that cleared the bases and pushed the Yankees ahead 7-1.
Rodon, returning to the place where he had one of his low moments last year by blowing a kiss to a heckling fan behind the dugout after a rough start, continued his bounce-back season.
He pitched into the seventh inning for the fourth time in his last five starts, a stretch in which he has posted a 2.37 ERA.
Across 12 starts this season, the left-hander now owns a 3.09 ERA.
Logan O’Hoppe, the Long Island native who homered off Luis Gil for the Angels’ only run on Wednesday night, did it again on Thursday to Rodon.
After that, though, Rodon locked in and carried a one-hitter into the seventh inning.
After a lengthy top of the seventh, he walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the inning and then allowed a single and double to end his night.
Ian Hamilton entered to protect a 7-2 lead and struck out a pair before walking a batter to load the bases. Caleb Ferguson came in next and gave up a single to ex-Yankee Willie Calhoun that drove in a run and snapped the Yankees starters’ historic streak, though they’ll gladly take the win.