Bird's slam, Gray's great start lead Yanks to 9-0 victory over Orioles

Man, if I had told you that, in a game that was started by Sonny Gray and Dylan Bundy, that one starter went 2.2 innings and allowed five runs, while the other went six scoreless, what would your reaction have been? Sonny Gray sucked again? Well, that wasn’t the case on Wednesday. The Yanks bounced back from a brutal loss on Tuesday night with a blowout win over the Orioles, 9-0. Sonny pitched a solid six innings, while Bundy was knocked out early.

AP

Bundy labored from start to finish, and the Yanks took advantage. Gardner walked to lead off the game, but nothing would come out of it. After a scoreless second inning, the third was where the real trouble began. After Gardner walked again, Judge singled, Didi grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Stanton singled to drive in Judge for the game’s first run. After a walk to Hicks, Greg Bird worked a fantastic at bat, and was rewarded with a hanging breaking ball. Bird destroyed it, and the Yanks then had a 5-0 lead on the strength of the Birdman’s first career grand slam. 

Even though Bundy had about 70 pitches after the third inning, Buck Showalter decided to roll with him for the fourth, which was a somewhat smart decision. A single by Romine and a double by Wade put runners on second and third, but Bundy was about to wiggle out of the jam. He finished the night pitching four innings, with a total of 91 pitches. Yeesh.

Mike Wright Jr., Jhan Marinez, and Donnie Hart pitched the final five innings, giving up four runs total. Tyler Wade and Austin Romine had solo homers; for Wade it was his first career blast, while the other runs scored on an error and a RBI single by Stanton.

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Sonny Gray, on the other hand, had himself a very pleasant night. Through his six innings, he really only got into two jams: in the second and sixth innings. In the second, a single by Schoop, a walk to Davis, and a passed ball by Romine put runners on second and third with one out, but Valencia struck out and Rickard grounded out to end the threat. In the sixth, Caleb Joseph singled and Machado doubled, but Trumbo struck out to end both the inning and the night for Gray. Just a very solid confidence booster for Gray, who will hopefully be able to build off of this after the All-Star break.

Win – Sonny Gray (6-7, 5.46): 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K

Loss – Dylan Bundy (6-9, 4.35): 4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 3 K

Notables:

Giancarlo Stanton: 4-5, 2 RBI, R, BB

Tyler Wade: 3-5, 2B, HR (1)

Austin Romine: HR (6)

Greg Bird: First career Grand Slam (7)

Article by: Alex Weir