Major League Baseball

Morales' homer lifts Angels past Yanks

Published Apr. 23, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Kendry Morales hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Joba Chamberlain in the eighth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the New York Yankees 6-4 on Friday night.

Angels catcher Brain Wilson, making his first big league start, sustained a concussion and injured left ankle in a collision at the plate with Mark Teixeira in the third inning.

Hideki Matsui, last year's World Series MVP with the Yankees, led off the eighth with a single. Reggie Willits pinch ran before Morales drove a 1-1 pitch from Chamberlain (0-1) to right field for his fifth homer.

Fernando Rodney (2-0), back in the setup role since closer Brian Fuentes returned from the disabled list, pitched a hitless eighth for the victory. Fuentes set down the Yanks 1-2-3 in the ninth for his second save in three chances.

Nick Swisher hit a solo homer in the fourth for the Yankees, who took two of three from the Angels last week in the Bronx.

The collision took place during the third inning in which each team scored three runs. Teixeira was hit in the right arm by Ervin Santana's 1-1 fastball as he turned to avoid the pitch, then took second on an RBI single by Alex Rodriguez that put the defending World Series champs ahead 2-1.

Robinson Cano followed with a single to right field and Teixeira never broke stride rounding third. The two-hop throw from former Yankee outfielder Bobby Abreu struck the crouching Wilson in the mask a split-second before Teixeira bowled him over with his left shoulder.

Wilson remained on the ground for several moments while trainer Ned Bergert and manager Mike Scioscia rushed to his aid. He limped off the field with assistance, but had to be lifted down the dugout steps by Bergert before he was taken to a hospital for X-rays and a CT scan.

Mike Napoli, the only healthy catcher on the roster, finished the game. Jeff Mathis was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday because of a broken right wrist. Their emergency catcher is reserve infielder Robb Quinlan, who returned from the minors to replace Mathis on the 25-man roster.

Napoli led off the fifth and was plunked by Burnett, who got the third out of the inning with a Rickey Henderson-like ``snatch-catch'' of Torii Hunter's line drive - drawing boos from the sellout crowd of 44,002.

Santana hit Swisher in the sixth after giving up a leadoff walk to Curtis Granderson, then was struck on his pitching shoulder by a line drive off the bat of Derek Jeter. Jeter ended up with a fielder's choice when second baseman Howie Kendrick fielded the carom behind the bag and got the force on Swisher.

Burnett allowed four runs and nine hits over 6 1-3 innings. Santana allowed four runs and eight hits over six innings, after beating the Blue Jays 3-1 at Toronto last Sunday with his sixth career complete game.

NOTES: The likely candidate to be called up from the Angels' Triple-A Salt Lake club to catch of Wilson ends up on the DL is Ryan Budde, who played in 23 games with the Halos over the previous three seasons and was 3 for 23. ... Yankees DH Nick Johnson singled in the fourth to snap an 0 for 21 drought, one at-bat shy of the longest in his career. ... The Yankees are scheduled to visit the White House on Monday, an off-day preceding their three-game series at Baltimore. It will be their first visit as World Series champs since May 4, 2001. On Wednesday, they will bring the championship trophy to the Pentagon and Bethesda Naval Hospital before heading back to the Bronx.

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