Baltimore Orioles 3 — New York Yankees 5
After eight innings of frustration, a pair of swings from a pair with high expectations walked it off.
After Orioles’ starter Ubaldo Jimenez got the first two outs, Jacoby Ellsbury would hit an infield single that the second baseman could not get a good throw on. Ellsbury would steal second and would score on a double to right field by Mark Teixeira. The first inning looked to be a sign of positives to come.
For most of the game, this inning was just deceptive.
In the second inning, Carlos Beltran led off with a double. Ichiro Suzuki would strike out but Brian Roberts would single and steal second to put runners in scoring position with one out. Yangervis Solarte would walk to load the bases but Brett Gardner would fly out to shallow center field where center fielder Adam Jones threw Beltran out at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
In the fifth inning, Ubaldo Jimenez would walk three consecutive batters after getting the first two outs, but the Yankees would ground out harmlessly to first base. During this, Hiroki Kuroda was holding down the Orioles and making the one-run lead stand strong.
Then the sixth inning came.
Two Orioles batters would reach base in the first five innings but they reached on an error and a walk. The first hit came in the sixth inning with a Nick Hundley to right center field. After getting the first out of the inning, Steve Pearce would tie the game with a double left field. Adam Jones would follow with the third hit of the inning, a single that would fall into right field for the second run of the inning. Kuroda would end the inning with a pair of fly outs but the damage was done.
The Yankees would tease a response in the bottom half of the inning. A lead off single and a pair of walks around two outs would end Jimenez’s night. Over 5.2 innings, Ubaldo Jimenez walked six and surrendered six hits but only allowed one run. The living embodiment of escaping danger.
On the other end, Hiroki Kuroda was the victim of the one bad inning. In six innings, Hiroki Kuroda allowed two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out six. Baseball can be weird like that. After Shawn Kelley, Matt Thornton and Dellin Betances combined for two scoreless innings, David Huff got the call in a one-run game in the ninth inning.
An error by Yangervis Solarte, who is deep in a hitless streak across his last 24 at-bats, is a bad way to open the inning of a one-run game. After a sacrifice bunt, a pair of singles would score the runner that reached on error. Huff would keep the deficit at two with a pair of strikeouts.
Entering tonight’s game, closer Zach Britton had a 0.72 ERA. The lefty would give up a lead off single to Brett Gardner. Derek Jeter would strike out and Jacoby Ellsbury would fly out to center field for the first two outs of the inning. Mark Teixeira would walk to put the potential tying run on first. Against a lefty, Brian McCann would hit a single to center field and Brett Gardner scored to make it a one run game. On a 3-1 pitch, Carlos Beltran “earned his pinstripes” and deposited the hanging pitch from Britton into deep left field. The seventh home run of the season was the first walk-off hit for the Yankees this season.
Despite the failures in prime situations early on, the Yankees found a way to keep the magic alive in a four-game winning streak. Oh, what a win.
Win – David Huff (2-0)
Loss – Zach Britton (3-1)
Notables
Orioles
*Steve Pearce – 2 for 5, R, 2B, 2 RBI (17)
*Adam Jones – 1 for 5, RBI (44)
Yankees
*Carlos Beltran – 2 for 4, R, BB, 2B, Walk-off 3-Run Home Run (7) in the 9th, 3 RBI (23)
*Brian McCann – 2 for 5, RBI (34)
Current Yankees Record: 39-33
