NEW YORK -- Adam Warren has talked about getting more comfortable as a starting pitcher after being an effective late-inning reliever for the New York Yankees last season.

And just as Warren has gained a better grasp of starting, the Yankees are growing more confident in using the right-hander in that role.

Warren provided further confidence by pitching effectively into the seventh inning on a night when his teammates scored six times in the bottom of the first in an 8-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.

"I think I feel more comfortable going deeper in the game," Warren said. "Early on the game seemed so much longer to me, going five, six, seven innings whereas I feel more comfortable once I get into that fifth or sixth inning. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable and I think it comes in the routine of starting."

Warren helped the Yankees win their season-high fifth in a row and ninth in 12 games by allowing two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. It marked the fifth straight outing he reached the seventh as Warren threw 105 pitches.

Warren retired the first nine hitters and his worst pitch was a 1-0 fastball that Angels center fielder Mike Trout sent over the right-field wall for a solo home in the sixth.

"Adam has done a great job," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "He had to make some adjustments because he's used to maybe going through a lineup once for the last two years, but he's figured it out."

Added catcher Brian McCann: "He's getting more comfortable. That's the first time every fifth day that he's taking the ball. What he did for us last year was huge and to take it over in the offseason and come to spring training, win the job and pitch like he's been pitching, his makeup is off the charts."

Warren's latest solid outing had plenty of help offensively and defensively.

The Yankees took a 6-0 lead on just 37 pitches against right-hander Garrett Richards, who allowed six runs and five hits while getting two outs in equaling his shortest career start.

"Maybe he hasn't been as locked in as when he got on a roll last year," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Richards.

It was New York's fourth first inning with at least six runs, which is two more than the rest of the league. And Warren was watching it unfold from a room adjacent to the video room behind the Yankee dugout.

"It's huge, it gives you breathing room," McCann said.

It started with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by first baseman Mark Teixeira that preceded third baseman Chase Headley scoring on a wild pitch. McCann hit a two-run home run and the Yankees had help on a mental error by first baseman Albert Pujols on a ground ball by second baseman Stephen Drew.

Pujols threw to second in an attempt to get shortstop Didi Gregorius, who appeared to be out after leaning off second. But replays showed that Angels shortstop Erick Aybar's foot came off the bag and the initial call was overturned after the Yankees challenged.

"(Pujols) reacted, first to home then to second," Scioscia said. "He thought he had an out there."

Center fielder Brett Gardner then lined a two-run single up the middle for a 6-0 lead that knocked out Richards.

The Yankees scored their final two runs on a RBI single by right fielder Carlos Beltran in the second and a bases-loaded walk by Teixeira in the eighth.

While the offense gave Warren some comfort, so did a diving stop by Headley on a sharp liner by Trout in the fourth and a double play started by Gregorius to end that inning. Warren also got help when he put two on in the fifth as rookie left fielder Ramon Flores made a running catch on the warning track, preventing an extra-base hit and forcing second baseman Johnny Giavotella to settle for a sacrifice fly.

"Defense as a whole was really great tonight, so it's always fun to see some great pl