Baltimore Orioles 3 — New York Yankees 4
A messy 7th inning helped the Yankees win by a score of 4-3 over the Baltimore Orioles.
David Phelps has proved himself to be reliable on most occasions as a starter but today was not one of those occasions. In just 4.2 innings, Phelps gave up 3 runs but the eye-opening statistic of his line was the career-high 6 walks. This does not include the batter he hit and the error he had on his pickoff attempt. Despite giving up just 3 runs, 98 pitches through 4.2 innings is far too many pitches in what was a very ineffective outing by the rookie pitcher. The bullpen picked up the starter, highlighted by 2 scoreless innings by Boone Logan. By the end of the 7th inning, the Yankees got the lead and had David Robertson pitch a quick, efficient scoreless 8th inning. Rafael Soriano secured the 9th inning and his 35th save of the season.
Through 6 innings, Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen was cruising. He didn’t give up his first hit until the 4th inning when Robinson Cano went the opposite way for a solo home run. Chen’s struggles came in the 7th inning when he was just a strike away from finishing 7 innings. With Jayson Nix batting and 2 outs, Chen got to 2 strikes before throwing 4 consecutive balls and walking the utility player. With 2 on and 2 outs still, Eduardo Nunez, a September call-up, came up with a run-scoring single that knocked Chen out of the game. Reliever Pedro Strop entered today’s game with an ERA below 2 and needed to get one out. On 5 pitches, Strop would walk Ichiro Suzuki to load the bases. Derek Jeter would come up with the tying run at 3rd and after falling behind 0-2, would also walk in a gritty at-bat that tied the game at 3. The other flaw in a pitcher that cannot throw strikes is that the defense becomes stationery and that can create errors. Nick Swisher came up with the bases loaded and on a 3-2 pitch, the line drive hit to defensively-reliable shortstop J.J. Hardy was bobbled and would let the winning run score. The Yankees weren’t exactly hitting with the efficiency that would put fans at ease but timely, efficient at-bats prove to be an effective means to scoring as the Yankees patient approach paid off.
Win – Boone Logan (6-2)
Loss – Wei-Yin Chen (12-8)
Save – Rafael Soriano (35)
Notables
Orioles
*Matt Wieters – 1 for 3, R, BB, Solo Home Run (18) in the 4th, RBI (66)
*Manny Machado – 2 for 4, RBI (11)
Yankees
*Robinson Cano – 1 for 4, R, Solo Home Run (28) in the 4th, RBI (71)
*Eduardo Nunez – 1 for 3, R, RBI (6)
Current Yankees Record: 76-56
