The Angels were clinging to a one-game lead in the AL West when the two-time defending world champion Yankees strutted into town for a three game series right before the All-Star break.
In the first game of the series, the Angels roughed up the Yankees’ Luis Tiant for six runs through eight innings. Meanwhile, the Angel’s ace, Nolan Ryan, took a no-hitter into the ninth. With one on (Munson reached on an error), and one out, Reggie Jackson rapped a singled to center to break up the no-hit bid. Munson then scored on a sacrifice fly. The “Express” then struck out Chambliss to polish off his one-hit gem and beat the Yanks 6-1, preserving the Halo’s one-game lead.
In the second game of the series, the Bronx Bombers busted out for five runs in the fourth to take an early lead off Don Aase. They added another run in the fifth to make it 6-0. The Angel bats got to work in the sixth, scoring two off Tommy John with RBI singles by Brian Downing and Joe Rudi. In the bottom of the eighth, they scored two more with solo home runs by Don Baylor and Joe Rudi off ace reliever Goose Gossage. Reggie padded the Yankee lead with an RBI single in the ninth, but MVP Don Baylor answered with a three run homer off Gossage in the bottom of the frame to knot the score at 7-7 and send the game into extra innings. Finally, in the bottom of the twelfth, Downing led off with a double to right. Rudi bunted him to third. Then he scored the winning run on Merv Rettenmund’s single to right.
In the final game of the series, the Yankees again jumped out to an early lead with two run homers by Chambliss and Spencer. In the third, Bobby Grich singled to left off Ron Guidry to score Jim Anderson. In the seventh, Grich came up with two on and one out. This time he doubled to center, knocking in Anderson and Rick Miller, and shaving the deficit to one, 4-3. In the bottom of the ninth, with one on and two outs, Grich stepped up to bat yet again. This time he hammered a two-run home run to win it, 5-4. The Angels swept the Yanks and went into the All-Star break with a two-game lead in the West. Perhaps most important of all, they gained the confidence that they could beat anybody – a quality that helped them down the stretch to win their first division title.
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