Yankees Drop 2 of 3 to Orioles

The Yankees came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Rays 4-3 in the finale to win the series against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. On a Labor Day matinee, the Yankees started a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees started Michael Pineda (10-8, 4.07 ERA against Wei-Yin Chen (8-7, 3.36 ERA). Pineda has pitched 10.1 innings since his return from the DL and has allowed ten hits and six earned runs. Wei-Yin Chen has been strong all year; in August, he pitched to a 3-1 record with a 3.79 ERA. He’s been consistent all year, recording quality starts in 17 out of his 26 starts.

Game 1 (Monday, September 7) - Baltimore Orioles 6 @ New York Yankees 8

1st Inning

The Yankees finally scored again in the first inning. Chris Young’s two-out bloop single to right with Carlos Beltran and Chase Headley on first and second, respectively, gave the Yankees the 1-0 lead after one inning.

2nd Inning

Chris Davis led off the inning with a walk and then Jimmy Paredes singled. Jonathan Schoop made it 3-1 with his home run to left. The Orioles extended its lead to 4-1 when Manny Machado’s hard ground ball deflected off of Headley’s glove. Nolan Reimold scored but Ryan Flaherty was thrown out by Didi Gregorius, who backed up Headley and threw home to get Flaherty. The Yankees didn’t threaten in the second.

3rd Inning

The Orioles went down in order. Chris Young’s RBI double with two out scored Chase Headley from second and the deficit was cut to 4-2 after three innings.

4th Inning

The Yankees had runners on first and second with one out. However, Jose Pirela struck out, Jacoby Ellsbury lined out, and Chase Headley flied out. The deficit was still 4-2 after four innings.

5th Inning

Alex Rodriguez made the deficit 4-3 with his solo home run to left. With two outs, Greg Bird walked. Then, John Ryan Murphy sent the ball to right and OVER THE WALL! The Yankees led 5-4 on John Ryan Murphy’s 2-run, 2-out home run and the Yankees led 5-4 after five innings.

6th Inning

Jorge Rondon relieved Wei-Yin Chen to start the sixth. The Yankees didn’t threaten and neither did the Orioles.

7th Inning

Justin Wilson came in for Pineda and served out a 1-out, solo home run to center to Manny Machado. The game was tied at 5. However, the game was not tied for long. Beltran’s walk and Young’s single drove Rondon out. Brian Matusz came in and the next batter, Greg Bird hit a DEEEP fly ball to right center and it was GONE! The Yankees led 8-5 on Greg Bird’s three-run home run.

8th Inning

Dellin Betances walked the first two batters but then struck out Schoop and Reimold. He walked Flaherty but came back and struck out Joseph. Betances struck out three and walked three, which was an extremely weird inning. The Yankees went down in order against Zach Britton.

9th Inning

Andrew Miller allowed a RBI single to Chris Davis but got the save and the win.

Player of the Game: Greg Bird (1-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB) - go-ahead, three-run HR in 7^th

Game 2 (Tuesday, September 8) - Baltimore Orioles 2 @ New York Yankees 1

The Yankees came back from a 4-1 deficit to beat the Orioles 8-5 yesterday and to capture Game 1. In Game 2, Masahiro Tanaka (11-6, 3.73 ERA) started for the Yankees against Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman (2-6, 4.59 ERA). Tanaka won in the rout at Boston last time out and pitched 6.1 innings and gave up four earned runs, six hits, and struck out five. It was not a spectacular outing by any means. Gausman has struggled. In his last seven games, he has a 1-4 record with a 4.97 ERA. He’s allowed 45 hits in 41.2 innings and has not had a great year so far.

1st Inning

The Orioles went down in order. Brian McCann walked with two outs and then Alex Rodriguez singled; however, Greg Bird struck out swinging against Kevin Gausman and it was another #RISPfail by the Yankees.

2nd Inning

Both teams went down in order.

3rd Inning

The Orioles went down in order. The Yankees had men on first and second again - Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann both singled - but it was with two outs, and shockingly (or not), A-Rod flied out (#RISPfail again).

4th Inning

12 up, 12 down for Masahiro Tanaka as the Orioles went down in order. Kevin Gausman sent the Yankees down in order as well.

5th Inning

The perfect game was over as Chris Davis walked to leadoff the inning and then the no-hitter as well as Matt Wieters singled on a slow ground ball to second that Didi Gregorius tried to field but it was really a ball for Stephen Drew. (The official scorer, as of the writing of this summary during the fifth inning, scored it a single to Wieters.) The Orioles had runners on the corners but, the next batter, JJ Hardy, popped out to second and the threat was eliminated. In the bottom half, the Yankees once again had runners on first and second but McCann struck out with two outs and the inning was over.

6th Inning

Ryan Flaherty led off with a home run on a 3-2 Tanaka pitch to right to give Baltimore the 1-0 lead. The lead wouldn’t last long. A-Rod led off the sixth inning with a home run of his own on also a 3-2 Gausman pitch to left and the game was TIED at 1 after six innings. After A-Rod homered, TJ McFarland came in for Gausman and besides walking Chris Young, there was no threat by the Yankees.

7th Inning

Tanaka came back out for the 7th. Leading off, Jimmy Paredes reached on an infield single that Stephen Drew couldn’t come up with at second. The next batter, Jonathan Schoop, hit a hard grounder to Brendan Ryan at third who dove and caught it and turned a 5-4-3 double play. This was key as Wieters, the next batter, doubled, which would have led to runs if Ryan didn’t make the play. Because of Ryan’s play and Tanaka getting JJ Hardy to ground out to Gregorius to end the inning, Tanaka got out of the threat. The Yankees didn’t threaten in the 7th against McFarland.

8th Inning

The highlight of the inning was Manny Machado’s hard grounder to short that Didi ranged to his left and delivered an accurate throw to first to get Machado by multiple steps to end the inning. Tanaka’s night concluded in the eighth; it was a great one as he went 8.0 IP, allowed only one run and six hits, and struck out ten Orioles. The Yankees went down in order against McFarland and Darren O’Day, who came in with one out and none on.

9th Inning

Chasen Shreve relieved Tanaka to start the ninth. Chris Davis greeted him...well, not nicely. Davis sent Shreve’s 2-0 fastball into left center field and the Orioles took the 2-1 lead. The inning ended on a strike ‘em out-throw’ em out even though it looked like Paredes was safe at third on the replay. Zach Britton came in to try and close the game out in the 9th for Baltimore. He did as he retired the side in order.

Player of the Game: Chris Davis – go-ahead home run in the 9th

Game 3 (Wednesday, September 9) - Baltimore Orioles 5 @ New York Yankees 3

In the series finale, the Yankees sent CC Sabathia (4-9, 5.27 ERA) to the hill to face Ubaldo Jimenez (10-9, 4.24 ERA). Sabathia is coming off of the disabled list and is pitching his first game since August 23. In August, Sabathia went 0-1 with a 3.80 ERA but in his last two starts in August, he struggled with a 5.93 ERA in just 9.1 innings. Ubaldo Jimenez has not pitched six innings since August 8; in August, he struggled, going 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA.

1st Inning

Chris Davis put the Baltimore Orioles in front 1-0 after his 2-out bloop fly ball into right fell in front of RF Carlos Beltran, with Nolan Reimold scoring from third. The Yankees tied the game on a Carlos Beltran home run to left, who made up for his inefficient defense on the Davis fly ball.

2nd Inning

Both teams went down in order in the second.

3rd Inning

Gerardo Parra singled with two outs but the Orioles didn’t threaten in the third. In the bottom half, Didi Gregorius was hit by a pitch and then Stephen Drew singled to put runners on first and second. After a fielder’s choice to short by Jacoby Ellsbury and then a stolen base to second by Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran’s 2-out single to center gave the Yankees the 3-1 lead after three innings.

4th Inning

The Orioles had a runner on third in Chris Davis with two out but JJ Hardy’s grounder to short was stopped by Didi Gregorius and the inning was over. The Yankees went down in order in the fourth.

5th Inning

Gerardo Parra’s sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. CC Sabathia then struck out Manny Machado but he hit Chris Davis and loaded the bases with two outs! Adam Warren came in for Sabathia. Jonathan Schoop hit a grounder to third which should’ve been a 5-4 put out at second, but Stephen Drew DROPPED the throw! Two runners scored and the game was tied! The Yankees went down in order in the fifth.

6th Inning

Both teams went down in order.

7th Inning

Manny Machado’s 2-out double and Chris Davis’s intentional walk led to runners on first and second with two out. However, Warren got Jonathan Schoop to ground out and the inning was over. The Yankees had Dustin Ackley on second from a 2-out double but Didi Gregorius grounded out on the next pitch to end the inning.

8th Inning

Steve Pearce gave the Orioles the 5-4 lead with a solo homerun to left off of Adam Warren. Nick Rumbelow came in after that to finish the inning. Darren O’Day came on for Ubaldo Jimenez after Jimenez pitched well and worked a 1-2-3 inning.

9th Inning

James Pazos came into the game for Rumbelow after Rumbelow walked Nolan Reimold. Parra bunted Reimold over to second and the night was over for Pazos as Bryan Mitchell came in. Chris Davis’s ground-rule double to right extended the Orioles lead to 5-3 but Mitchell stopped the bleeding there. Zach Britton came in and set New York down in order.

MY TAKES

Player of the Game: Steve Pearce, for his go-ahead home run in the 8th.

1.      The Yankee offense had 22 hits in 101 at-bats (.218) this series. They scored 13 runs but also went only 4-16 with runners in scoring position (RISP), a statistic in which they have been struggling recently. They struck out 24 times and only walked 4 times.

2.      The Yankee pitching allowed 11 earned runs in 27 innings (3.67 ERA), which was decent. The starters (Sabathia, Pineda, and Tanaka) combined for a total of 20 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. Because the bullpen was so overused, manager Joe Girardi was forced to use less reliable middle relievers in the critical innings of Game 3, which led to displeasure by many Yankee fans, especially myself.

3.      The Yankee relievers struggled. Chasen Shreve gave up the game winning homerun in Game 2 and Adam Warren did the same in Game 3. Both Shreve and Wilson will be relied on in the postseason because the Yankees can’t keep tossing out Betances and Miller.

4.      Stephen Drew dropped a throw from Headley and a possible double play ball, leading indirectly or directly to three of the five runs tonight. Pathetic defense.

5.      Alex Rodriguez has hit a home run in 3 of his last four games, so while his average may not be back, his power has. 30 home runs? No one could’ve expected that this year.

LOOKING FORWARD

Here we go. Probably the biggest series all year. The Toronto Blue Jays are coming into town starting Thursday for a 4-game set. This is huge because the Yankees and Blue Jays are currently fighting for first place in the American League East and there are three weeks until the end of the season. Toronto swept New York the last time they visited the Bronx but the Yankees won their last series, albeit at Rogers Centre. Here are the probable pitchers for the series:

●       Thursday, September 10 (7:05 PM ET): David Price (14-5, 2.43 ERA) vs. Luis Severino (3-2, 2.04 ERA)

●       Friday, September 11 (7:05 PM ET): Marco Estrada (12-8, 3.18 ERA) vs. Ivan Nova (6-7, 4.50 ERA)

●       Saturday, September 12 (1:05 PM ET): Marcus Stroman (season debut) vs. Michael Pineda (10-8, 4.15 ERA)

●       Sunday, September 13 (1:05 PM ET): RA Dickey (10-10, 4.06 ERA) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (11-6, 3.60 ERA)

Article by: Bryan Peng

Twitter: @bpeng7

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