The Angels used some timely hitting and some poor defense by the Yankees to even their best-of-five ALDS series with a 5-3 victory Wednesday night. Orlando Cabrera delivered the key hit, a two-run single in the seventh inning that give the Angels the lead for good. Bengie Molina added two hits and a home run in the eighth.

The Yankees made a number of key errors in important spots. Clinging to a one-run lead in the sixth, Alex Rodriguez couldn’t handle a ball chopped to him by Orlando Cabrera who eventually came around to score and tie the game. Chien-Ming Wang threw wide to first on a sacrifice bunt which put two runners on with no outs in the seventh. By contrast, Chone Figgins and the Angels made the defensive plays when they needed to and that proved to be the difference in the game.

Despite the setback, the Yankees should be content with taking one out of two in Anaheim. They now head back to New York for Game Three, which is Friday night. Randy Johnson will be asked to deliver a pivotal victory and put the Yankees in position to wrap up the series on Saturday.

Photo by AP/Elaine Thompson via ESPN