Judge homers to tie it in eighth, and Yankees rally for four runs in ninth to win 7-3

The Yankees took on the Orioles on Sunday afternoon looking to avoid the series sweep and avoid falling to 1-5 through their first week of the season. Without Gary Sanchez (disabled list), Jacoby Ellsbury (rest), and Greg Bird (rest/hurt) in the starting lineup, the Yankees send out a different look against left-hander Wade Miley of Baltimore. Likewise, the Yankees sent a lefty of their own to oppose Miley in CC Sabathia. While Miley was all over the place early in the game, the Yankees were unable to take advantage of his wild performance mustering just one hit off him in five innings. Sabathia was very effective in keeping the Yankees in the game, and a late rally that included an Aaron Judge home run gave the Yankees a much needed late-inning victory. The Yankees were helped by 11 total walks at the plate, including three in a critical four-run ninth inning to win 7-3.

Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky | AP

The Yankees got their first runner on base in the first inning after a Matt Holliday walk, but he was subsequently picked off of first base to end the inning. CC Sabathia recorded a three up, three down inning in the first as the Yankees headed into the second inning.

Chris Carter led off the inning with a walk, which was followed by two fly outs by Starlin Castro and Chase Headley. Being patient at the plate, Aaron Judge and Austin Romine were both walked to load the bases. However, Miley was able to escape the threat getting Ronald Torreyes to strike out in a pathetic at-bat as he chased three pitches that were outside of the strike zone.

Sabathia then yielded the dreaded leadoff walk to Mark Trumbo in the bottom half of the inning, and a Chris Davis single put runners on the corners with nobody out. With the corners playing a medium depth, Trey Mancini hit a group ball to Carter at first, and despite coming in on the ball, Carter turned and fired the ball to second base, allowing Trumbo to score from third. Sabathia then surrendered his second walk of the inning and JJ Hardy singled scoring Mancini to put the O’s up 2-0. Sabathia then wiggled out of a jam to limit the damage to just two runs.

Make no mistake, Sabathia pitched very well this afternoon for the Yankees, but was once again a victim of the lack of run support. The Yankees have struggled to score runs for Sabathia over the past couple of seasons and that trend continued today as Sabathia was a tough-luck loser, despite the Yankees being given plenty of opportunities with the six walks from Miley.

The Orioles added a run in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single from Trumbo scoring Adam Jones to put Baltimore ahead 3-0. The Yankees were able to put a crooked number on the board following Miley being pulled from the game due to his high pitch count from the early inning walks. With Tyler Wilson taking over for the O’s, the Yankees put together a two-out rally with back-to-back singles from Aaron Judge and Austin Romine. Ronald Torreyes then poked a ball into the right-centerfield gap for a two-RBI triple pulling to Yankees to within one run. Sabathia would put together a one, two, three inning in the bottom half of the sixth exciting with a solid outing under his belt.

Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky | AP

To lead off the eighth inning, Judge pulled a solo home run over the left field wall to tie the game at three runs apiece. Ronald Torreyes also picked up his second hit of the game that inning, but the Yankees were unable to bring him around leaving the score tied. Dellin Betances entered for the bottom of the eighth and set the Orioles down in order picking up two strikeouts.

With the game tied in the ninth, the Yankees were rally to strike for four runs to propel them to their ultimate 7-3 victory. The inning started with Holliday drawing his fifth walk of the afternoon before being pinch run for by Jacoby Ellsbury, who would steal second base. Then, Darren O’Day also walked Chris Carter to put runners on first and second with nobody out. In a clutch situation, Starlin Castro picked up a single up the middle scoring Ellsbury to put the Yankees ahead 4-3. O’Day then continued his wild afternoon by walking Chase Headley to load the bases. With the infield in, Judge hit a grounder to first, but the O’s were unable to get the out at home and were forced to go to first due to Chris Davis falling over, giving the Yankees their fifth run. Playing more sloppy defense, Austin Romine hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field bringing Starlin Castro home, and Chase Headley was also able to score from second after a throwing error to third base by Jonathan Schoop to put the Yankees up 7-3.

Aroldis Chapman came on in the bottom of the ninth in a non-save situation and slammed the door picking up two strikeouts to help the Yankees avoid the sweep.

What’s Next?

With the Yankees encouragingly showing some fight this afternoon, they will play the Tampa Bay Rays in a three game series including their home opener starting Monday afternoon at 1:05 PM ET. The Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound against Alex Cobb on Monday before an off day on Tuesday. The Yankees will be back in action against the Rays at 1:05 PM ET on Wednesday, and 7:05 PM ET on Thursday night.

Winning pitcher: Dellin Betances (1-1, 3.86 ERA): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Losing pitcher: Darren O’Day (0-1, 18.00 ERA): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R (4 ER), 3 BB, 0 K

Notables:

Matt Holliday: 0-0, 5 BB

Aaron Judge: 2-4, HR (1), 2 RBI, 2 R

Ronald Torreyes: 3-5, 2 RBI, 3B, K

Austin Romine: 1-3, RBI, BB, R

CC Sabathia: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 3 K

Aroldis Chapman: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Mark Trumbo: 2-3, RBI, BB, R

Chris Davis: 2-4

Wade Miley: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 7 BB, 5 K

Article by: Chad Raines

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