Bengie Molina went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer as the Angels completed a three-game sweep of the Yankees with a 4-3 victory Sunday in New York.
Anaheim's win, coupled with Oakland's 2-1 loss to the Devil Rays and Texas' 10-2 loss to Kansas City, left the three teams within a half-game of each other in the AL West.
"We ran into a New York team that isn't playing its best ball," Angels closer Troy Percival said. "That's when you need to take advantage."
The Angels did exactly that, limiting the Yankees to four runs in the series. New York lost for the sixth time in seven games and has been outscored 37-11 in the defeats. It managed four hits Sunday and was booed by a sellout crowd of 53,885.
"You have a red-hot team over there," third baseman Alex Rodriguez said."They came in on their A game and whipped (us)."
Molina tied his career high for hits in his second start since returning from a broken finger, leading the Angels to their fifth consecutive win and 10th in 11 road games. They pulled off their first sweep of New York since May 11-13, 1999, also at Yankee Stadium.
Kevin Brown cruised into the fifth with the help of two double plays then ran into trouble. Jose Guillen led off with an infield single, and Jeff DaVanon bunted for a hit. One out later, Molina sent a 1-and-2 pitch over the leftfield fence for a 3-2 lead.
Gary Sheffield's homer in the eighth cut it to 4-3. But Percival needed only four pitches in a perfect ninth.
In Kansas City, Calvin Pickering homered twice and drove in six runs in his first game for the Royals.
Since homering for Boston in his final at-bat of 2001, Pickering, who graduated from King High in Tampa in 1985, sat out all of 2002 with a torn quadriceps and spent the next two seasons in the minors.
But after hitting 35 home runs for Triple-A Omaha this season, he was called up this weekend to replace the injured Ken Harvey.
"You never know what can happen. One time you're healthy, and all of a sudden something out of the blue happens," the 6-foot-5, 260-pound designated hitter said. "I've been through it all. I'm just happy to be here now."
David DeJesus tripled to lead off the third for Kansas City and scored on Ruben Gotay's sacrifice fly. After Joe Randa singled, Scott Erickson walked Matt Stairs and Abraham Nunez. Then Pickering drove a 3-and-2 pitch over the leftfield fence for his first grand slam to make it 5-0.
Nunez led off the fifth with a double. Then Pickering pounded Joaquin Benoit's first pitch 440 feet over the wall in straightaway center for a 7-0 lead.
