Yankees' urgency rising as mistakes pile up heading into next series

NEW YORK - Coming off being swept by the Rays at Tampa Bay, the Yankees could’ve easily been swept again. In a four-game set with another AL mediocrity, the Los Angeles Angels, the Yanks managed to pull off two rabbit-out-of-a-hat wins – after trailing in the ninth inning both times. This was mostly an entertaining and historic series, featuring two future Hall of Famers slugging it out.

Aaron Judge clubbed his fourth homer of the series in Thursday afternoon’s first inning, and Mike Trout later smashed his fifth – on the way to an 11-4 Angels victory. Ineffective relief, poor decisions on the bases, and a couple of unmade infield defensive plays contributed to the Yanks’ seventh loss in their last nine games. This was the week where Oswald Peraza – batting cleanup as an Angel – came back to haunt the Yankees, who cast him off at last summer’s trade deadline.

At the plate, Peraza went 5-for-10 with two homers, three walks, four RBI, a double and two stolen bases. “He’s super talented, always has been,’’ said manager Aaron Boone of Peraza, who batted . 190 with a .

548 OPS in parts of four Yankees seasons. “He’s in as good a place as he’s been the past few years. ’’ Peraza was another version of prime Gio Urshela, except for the pop fly that dropped between him and shortstop Zach Neto (more Neto’s responsibility) that contributed to the Yanks’ walk-off win Wednesday.