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at Yankee Stadium on July 23, 2015 in the Bronx borough of New York City.

Yankees game 94: Offense sweeps aside the Orioles

Baltimore Orioles 3 – New York Yankees 9

The Yankees score often and early to ensure the sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in this three-game series.

After Masahiro Tanaka pitched a perfect first inning, the Yankees offense got going early against the Orioles’ Ubaldo Jimenez. Jacoby Ellsbury got the ball rolling with a leadoff single. Brett Gardner walked and Alex Rodriguez walked to load the bases with no outs. The great scoring opportunity looked to be wasted after Mark Teixeira struck out and Carlos Beltran flew out to shallow left field. But Chase Headley had other ideas when he jumped on a first pitch fastball and drove it into deep right center field.

Bouncing off the wall, the bases were cleared on the three-run double with two outs in the first inning. Didi Gregorius followed up with a single to plate a fourth run to give Tanaka an early cushion.

The early four-run lead made a leadoff home run by Chris Davis in the second inning tolerable. Especially when Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a solo home run to leadoff the bottom half of the second inning. The Yankees were not done, made clear in the third inning.

After the first out in the third inning, Didi Gregorius hit a single. John Ryan Murphy followed with a single of his own and Stephen Drew hit a double to right field as the bottom of the order produced a run. Jacoby Ellsbury kept his good time going with a sacrifice fly to left field, extending the lead to six.

The Yankees were set down in order for the first time in the fourth inning but they bounced back in the fifth inning.

Chase Headley started the fifth inning with a single. One out later, Murphy hit a ground ball that deflected off of second base for his third hit of the day. Then with two outs, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a fly ball to left field that left fielder David Lough could not stop as it rolled by him and his sliding attempt. Ellsbury reached second base on a two-run double to extend the lead, 9-1.

While the Yankees gave Tanaka room to work, he kept the Orioles on a tight leash. Following the second inning home run by Davis, Tanaka retired 13 of the next 14 with the one Oriole to reach base coming on an unfortunate error by Brett Gardner in left field when the sun kept him from keeping his eye on the ball.

In the sixth inning, Tanaka played self-defense when he snagged a line drive coming back at him. Then with two outs, he gave up a double, his second hit of the game, before getting the last out. He followed up by striking out the side in the seventh inning. He returned for the eighth inning and got the first out of the inning before J.J. Hardy took him deep for the second home run he allowed today. With two outs, Manny Machado took Tanaka deep for the third solo home run of the game and ending the day for the Yankees righty.

In 7 2/3 innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed three runs on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. The three runs came on solo home runs. He threw 101 pitches and 77 for strikes.

Chris Capuano finished off the eighth inning and got the first two outs of the ninth inning before Branden Pinder got the final out to complete the sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.

 

Win – Masahiro Tanaka (7-3)

Loss – Ubaldo Jimenez (7-6)

 

Notables

Orioles

*Chris Davis – 1 for 4, Solo home run (21) in the 2nd, RBI (55)

*J.J. Hardy – 1 for 3, R, Solo home run (6) in the 8th, RBI (26)

Yankees

*Jacoby Ellsbury – 3 for 4, 2 R, 2B, Solo home run (3) in the 2nd, 4 RBI (14)

*Chase Headley – 2 for 4, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI (35)

 

Current Yankees Record: 53-41