After their 12-run outburst against the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium the day before, the 2000 Yankees hopped on a plane and headed to Anaheim for a mid-August West Coast trip. As sometimes happens when a team crosses the country to play without an off day, though, the Yankees came out flat against the Angels, as Orlando Hernández saw his struggles continue.

August 11: Yankees 3, Angels 8 (box score)

Record: 62-49 (1st in AL East, 4.0 games ahead)

The Angels jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first. Darin Erstad opened the frame with a line drive single to right, and Orlando Palmeiro followed that up by working a walk. Mo Vaughn then laced a 2-2 pitch down the line in right field for a two-run double. After Hernández struck out Tim Salmon — the Angels really like their fish-themed outfielders, don’t they — for the first out of the inning, Garrett Anderson doubled in Vaughn. Following a Troy Glaus strikeout, Adam Kennedy singled in Anderson. When Matt Walbeck flew out to left to end the inning, the Yankees found themselves in a 4-0 hole.

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Both teams traded zeroes in the second before the Yankees finally struck in the top of the third. Derek Jeter grounded a one-out single up the middle. Jorge Posada then hit a groundball to third base for what should’ve been an easy 5-4-3 double play. The second baseman, however, botched the throw to first, and Posada advanced to third on the two-base error. Paul O’Neill followed that up with a grounder up the middle for the Yankees’ first run of the ballgame.

In the fourth, the Bombers appeared to cut the deficit to one, as José Canseco opened the inning with a walk and Glenallen Hill hit what appeared at first glance to be a home run to right field. After conferring with each other, however, the umpires ruled fan interference on the play — correctly, as replay would later show a fan reaching down from the high wall in right and catching the ball in the field of play. Hill was awarded a double, and Canseco was held at third. Despite having two runners in scoring position with nobody out, the Yankees failed to capitalize, as both Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius struck out looking, and Luis Sojo lined out to end the inning.

The Yankees did manage to tack on two runs in the fifth, courtesy of a Posada double and a Bernie Williams home run. Unfortunately, El Duque handed those runs right back. Erstad doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and advanced to third when Palmiero grounded out to second. Vaughn was hit by a pitch, putting runners on the corners with one away. Anderson doubled for the second time that day, however, driving in both Erstad and Vaughn, to give the Angels a 6-3 lead.

After a scoreless sixth, the Yankees managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh, but were once again unable to capitalize. Erstad then singled to lead off the bottom of the inning, and after Palmeiro popped out for the first out, Joe Torre turned to Randy Choate, unwilling to let the struggling Hernández face the middle of the order again. The move sort of backfired, though, as Erstad stole second and third off Choate, allowing him to score on a Vaughn sacrifice fly. Then, in the eighth, Glaus hit a solo home run with one away. That brought the score to 8-3, where it would stay.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.