Baltimore Orioles 2 — New York Yankees 3 (12 innings)
An interesting decision in the 9th inning paid off in big ways as the Yankees win by a score of 3-2 in 12 innings over the Baltimore Orioles.
Hiroki Kuroda gave the Yankees an outstanding start in the first home game of the postseason. In a pitching duel, Kuroda went 8.1 innings and only made 2 bad pitches in his 105-pitch outing. In the 3rd inning, second baseman Ryan Flaherty took the hanging curve to open the at-bat into the short porch in right field to give the Orioles the lead. The game would be tied until the 5th inning when Manny Machado took another hanging breaking ball into the visitor’s bullpen to give the Orioles a one-run lead. These two home runs were all that Kuroda allowed as he produced 11 ground outs and gave the Yankees a great opportunity to win. Boone Logan would strike out Jim Thome, his only batter and Rafael Soriano would finish off the 8th inning and 9th with 1.1 innings of work. David Robertson would give the Yankees 2 solid innings of work as the bullpen carried on what Kuroda started and Robertson was awarded with the win.
The Yankees got to face Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez two times in the season and he entered undefeated. He appeared to be as good as the Yankees remembered him through 7 innings of 1-run baseball. Gonzalez would strike out 8 and seemed to have most of the Yankees lineup waving at air. The lone run came in the 3rd inning with 2 outs. With Russell Martin on 3rd following a double and a groundout, Derek Jeter would hit a triple to deep right center out of the reach of outfielder Adam Jones to tie the game at that point. Through 8 innings, Gonzalez and reliever Darren O’Day silenced the Yankees bats. The polarizing player of the Yankees lineup continues to be Alex Rodriguez as he went 0 for 3 in tonight’s game with 2 strikeouts as the Yankee Stadium audience continued to voice their displeasure with the high-priced player. In a surprising move, Joe Girardi chose to pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez with left-handed bat Raul Ibanez against closer Jim Johnson in the 9th inning. With 1 out and a 1-0 count, Raul Ibanez brought the Yankee Stadium crowd to an uproar with a game-tying home run. The silenced crowd watched through 8.1 innings as the bats were silenced until Ibanez broke through and brought life back to the Bronx. As extra inning baseball continued, Ibanez would come up to lead off the 12th inning against left-handed pitcher Brian Matusz and in Yankees Classic fashion, Ibanez would take the first pitch fastball deep for his second home run of the night, this time the game-winning, walk-off home run to bring this game to a thrilling end and give the Yankees the series lead.
Win – David Robertson (1-0)
Loss – Brian Matusz (0-1)
Notables
Orioles
*Ryan Flaherty – 1 for 3, R, Solo Home Run (1) in the 3rd, RBI (1)
*Manny Machado – 1 for 3, R, Solo Home Run (1) in the 5th, RBI (1)
Yankees
*Raul Ibanez – 2 for 2, 2 R, 2 Solo Home Runs (2) in the 9th & 12th, 2 RBI (2)
*Derek Jeter – 2 for 4, 3B, RBI (2)
Current series: Yankees lead 2-1
