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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 07: Greg Bird #31 of the New York Yankees hits a three run home run against the Baltimore Orioles in the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium on September 7, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Andy Marlin/Getty Images)

Yankees game 136: Bird breaks the tie in the Labor Day win

Baltimore Orioles 6 – New York Yankees 8

The Yankees rallied to win today’s Labor Day day game to open the series with the Orioles.

In the first inning, Michael Pineda set the Orioles down in order. Wei-Yin Chen ran into some trouble early on. After the first out, Chase Headley got on base with a single. Another out later, Carlos Beltran hit a sharp single to left to put two on base. Chris Young came up with just enough contact to score a run when second baseman Jonathan Schoop and first baseman Chris Davis could not decide who was going to catch the soft pop up, letting it drop in.

After the scoreless first inning, Pineda looked to have a shut down inning but he did not do that.

Chris Davis started the second inning with a walk, he advanced to second on a single by Jimmy Paredes and second baseman Jonathan Schoop dealt a big blow, a three-run home run to left field, erasing the Yankees one-run lead, and putting the Yankees behind by two. The inning continued to unravel when Nolan Reimold was hit by a pitch. Ryan Flaherty put a bunt in no man’s land between first and the mound, reaching base for a single. Caleb Joseph put down a sacrifice bunt that put two in scoring position for the first out of the inning. On a sharp single through Chase Headley at third, Manny Machado brought in the fourth run of the inning. On the slowed down ground ball, Didi Gregorius recovered to throw home, getting Flaherty out at home on, what appeared to be, an ill-advised send home for the second out. For the last out, Adam Jones hit a rocket to third, where Headley snagged it.

After a scoreless second inning by the Yankees, the Orioles helped them out a little in the third inning. Chase Headley hit a ground ball to third and beat a wide throw to first, charging the third baseman with an error. After the first out of the inning, Carlos Beltran flew out to center field. Adam Jones took the out casually but on the play, Headley tagged up from first and advanced with Jones not expecting the advance. Headley advancing to scoring position proved to be huge when Chris Young hit a double that brought the Yankees within two.

The score stood pat until the fifth inning. Michael Pineda retired 12 of the last 14 he faced after a double in the four-run second inning.

On a 3-1 pitch from Chen, Alex Rodriguez put a solo home run in the seats in left field, bringing the Yankees within one. After two outs, Greg Bird worked a full count into a walk and catcher John Ryan Murphy took advantage of it.

On a 3-1 pitch, Murphy went the other way for a two-run home run, changing the one-run deficit into a one-run lead.

In six innings, Michael Pineda allowed four runs on six hits while walking two and striking out five. All of the runs came in one inning and he exited the game with the lead.

Justin Wilson came in for the seventh inning and got the first out. But Manny Machado got to Wilson when he put a solo home run over the wall in straight away center field. The home run tied the game at 5.

In the bottom of the inning against reliever Jorge Rondon, Carlos Beltran worked a lead off walk. Chris Young got on base with a single and reliever Brian Matusz came in to pitch to Greg Bird. After Bird fell behind 0-2, Greg Bird got all of a slider and put it into the Yankees bullpen for a tie-breaking, three-run home run.

Dellin Betances came on for the eighth inning and had an adventurous appearance. Chris Davis and Jimmy Paredes started with a pair of walks. Just when things looked bad, Betances turned it around, striking out the next two on six consecutive strikes. He followed this up by walking Ryan Flaherty on four straight pitches to load the bases. Betances followed this up with a strikeout of Caleb Joseph to end the inning. Three walks, three strikeouts but zero runs in a no-contact type inning from the big Betances.

Andrew Miller got the ninth inning and looked to be cruising when he got the first two outs but Steve Pearce walked to extend the inning. He advanced into scoring position on defensive indifference and scored on a run-scoring single by Chris Davis, bringing the lead down to two. This did little but extend the game when Jimmy Paredes struck out swinging to end the game and get the Yankees a great comeback win.

 

Win – Justin Wilson (5-0)

Loss – Jorge Rondon (0-1)

Save – Andrew Miller (32)

 

Notables

Orioles

*Manny Machado – 2 for 5, R, Solo home run (27) in the 7th, 2 RBI (70)

*Jonathan Schoop – 1 for 4, R, Three-run home run (12) in the 2nd, 3 RBI (35)

Yankees

*Greg Bird – 1 for 3, 2 R, BB, Three-run home run (5) in the 7th, 3 RBI (17)

*John Ryan Murphy – 2 for 4, R, Two-run home run (3) in the 5th, 2 RBI (14)

 

Current Yankees Record: 77-59