Yankees 6, Orioles 1. The New York Yankees closed out a three-game set at Camden Yards Thursday night with their fourth straight win, and by the time Ryan Yarbrough recorded the last out, the whole thing felt more like a formality than a ballgame.
Gerrit Cole struck out eight over six innings. Spencer Jones and Luis Garcia Jr. both went deep in the sixth. Jazz Chisholm Jr. tripled home an insurance run in the eighth. And the Orioles, losers of four straight themselves, never got a real foothold (Dylan Beavers' solo shot in the fifth was their only run of the night). Sweep complete -- three games, three wins, and the Yankees now sit 4.0 back of Tampa Bay with a nine-and-a-half game cushion in the Wild Card race.
Three in the Third, Just Like That
This one got out of hand early, and it started with an Orioles mistake. Jose Caballero reached on a fielder's choice in the top of the third when shortstop Gunnar Henderson botched the catch, and Spencer Jones scored from third before Baltimore even had a chance to regroup.
Ben Rice followed with a clean single to left, scoring Austin Wells. Heliot Ramos doubled to center right behind him, scoring Rice -- his 17th double of the year, and a good reminder that Ramos doesn't need to hit one out to do damage. Three runs, one error, two hits -- the kind of inning that isn't pretty on a highlight reel but ends a game before it really starts.
Kyle Bradish never really found his footing after that. He'd finish the night having allowed eight hits and five runs over 5.2 innings in front of a Camden Yards crowd of 29,200 that watched the Orioles drop their fourth straight.
Cole Does Cole Things
Cole didn't need much more than that. Six innings, four hits, one earned run, eight strikeouts, and a lineup that never really threatened outside of Beavers' homer in the fifth. Camden Yards has a short right-field porch that's eaten plenty of Yankees pitchers alive over the years (looking at you, various middle relievers of seasons past), and Cole just shrugged it off.
He's now 7-6 on the year, and outings like this one are exactly why nobody in that clubhouse blinks when his name is on the schedule against a division contender.
Beavers' homer in the fifth was the only real dent Baltimore put in the line, and even that felt like a formality more than a threat -- the Orioles never got the tying run to the plate the rest of the way.
Two More in the Sixth
If the third inning put Baltimore in a hole, the sixth buried it. Garcia led off the frame and turned on a Bradish fastball, sending it out to right-center for his 25th home run of the season. Two outs later, Jones followed with one of his own to left-center, his sixth.
Two solo shots in the same frame is the kind of thing that turns a comfortable lead into a laugher, and by the time Chisholm added an RBI triple in the eighth to score Garcia again, Baltimore's bullpen was just running out the clock.
The Bullpen Did Its Part, Too
Yarbrough closing this one out with three hitless, scoreless innings for the save is a little unusual (that's a lot of work for what's typically a ninth-inning job), but with the score where it was, manager Aaron Boone clearly wanted length and got it. Cole gets the win, Bradish takes the loss after allowing five runs in 5.2 innings, and the Orioles' four-game skid keeps getting worse at the worst possible time for them.
Four in a row now for the Yankees, and a sweep in Baltimore to show for it. The schedule doesn't get any easier, but this is the version of the team you want walking into it.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
