New York Yankees 2 — Baltimore Orioles 3
A pair of former Yankees come through in the ninth to break hearts again.
Hiroki Kuroda took the mound looking to keep the slimmest of hopes alive for the Yankees. After a very easy first inning, the Yankees offense would have a flash of power. Against Chris Tillman, Martin Prado would hit a home run just out of the reach of Alejandro De Aza in left field. Brian McCann would go the opposite way and ended up on second base after an error by De Aza and Mark Teixeira would follow with a single through the shift in right field but a pair of strikeouts and a pop out would deflate the potential for a big inning as the Yankees would just get one.
Known for not receiving much run support, Hiroki Kuroda would do his best to make one run stand on its own.
After a double from J.J. Hardy with two outs in the second inning, Hiroki Kuroda would retire the next eight straight before running into some hard luck. Hardy would hit a soft base hit with one out that stayed in the infield with some spin on it. Kuroda would then surrender a two-out base hit to Nick Hundley that fell just fair along the right field line behind first base but a force out at second saved Kuroda from some unfortunate luck.
His slim run support of one run would not last in the next inning though.
With one out in the sixth inning, De Aza would hit a single to center field. The next batter, Adam Jones would hit a laser of a double down the left field line, deflected off of Martin Prado’s glove and going to the corner in left field. De Aza was in motion on the play and would come all the way around to score from first base to tie the game. Kuroda would give up another single in the inning but he would strand the runners and keep the game tied at one. He would finish the seventh inning and had a typical start that was great but run support was lacking.
In seven innings, Hiroki Kuroda allowed one run on six hits while walking none and striking out five.
After the three hits in the second inning, Chris Tillman would retire 15 of the next 17 Yankees and one of the hits was a bunt single against the shift. Chris Tillman would walk one in the seventh inning before he would be replaced. In 6.2 innings, Chris Tillman allowed one run on five hits while walking one and striking out six. Andrew Miller would come in and Carlos Beltran would come out as the pinch-hitter. Miller would get Beltran to strikeout and the Yankees threat to score ended.
Dellin Betances took over after Hiroki Kuroda and he would hit a milestone in his inning of work.
Betances would strikeout Nick Markakis and Adam Jones in the inning. The strikeout of Adam Jones was the 130th strikeout for him this season. The 130th strikeout ties Dellin Betances with Mariano Rivera in 1996 for the franchise record in strikeouts by a reliever.
After Andrew Miller struck out two in a scoreless eight inning, Darren O’Day would take over in the ninth inning. After getting the first out of the inning, Brian McCann would break the tie with a solo home run into right field. The 20th home run of the season gave the Yankees the lead and with the postseason hopes getting away, David Robertson would be called on despite working in the past two days.
After two days of work, including an appearance with over 30 pitches, David Robertson would try for the save. Location and control of his pitches was clearly lacking in tonight’s game. Nelson Cruz led off the inning with a double. He would be pinch-run for and the runner would score on the double to left field by former Yankee Steve Pearce. After getting the first out of the inning, former Yankee Kelly Johnson would hit a double into the right center gap and the game-winning run would score in a walk-off fashion.
Win – Darren O’Day (5-1)
Loss – David Robertson (2-5)
Notables
Yankees
*Brian McCann – 1 for 4, R, Solo Home Run (20) in the 9th, RBI (66)
*Martin Prado – 1 for 4, R, Solo Home Run (12) in the 2nd, RBI (58)
Orioles
*Kelly Johnson – 1 for 4, 2B, RBI (26)
*Steve Pearce – 2 for 4, R, 2B, RBI (41)
Current Yankees Record: 76-72
