Tagged: Adam Jones

A-Rod, Tex Back Nova As Yankees Ground Birds

GAME 93

YANKEES 4, ORIOLES 3

The Yankees started the second half of the season with a lead that they hoped they could maintain. In order to that they were looking for continued production from the two biggest bats in their lineup in Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez.

On Wednesday, both those two bats delivered some big blows that left the Orioles in their dust.

Teixeira hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Rodriguez added a mammoth tape-measure solo blast in the fifth to back six strong innings by right-hander Ivan Nova as New York clinched the three-game series with Baltimore in front of a paid crowd of 43,887 at Yankee Stadium.

In what has been their trademark all season the Yankees jumped on right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-2) in the first inning as Jacoby Ellsbury led off by slicing a double down the right field line.

Brett Gardner followed with a lined single up the middle into center that scored Ellsbury. One out later, Teixeira cranked out his 24th home run of the season into the bleachers in right field to give the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.

Nova, making only his fifth start of the season, was able to hold that lead despite running into some difficulty in both the third and fifth innings.

J.J. Hardy led off the third inning by lacing a single to left and Ryan Flaherty followed by smacking his fourth home run of the season to the bleachers right-center to bring the Orioles to within a run.

Later that same inning Nova gave up a one-out double to Manny Machado. But he stranded him by getting Travis Snider and Adam Jones on groundouts.

In the fifth, Nova issued walks to both Hardy and Flaherty to start the frame and Caleb Joseph advanced them with a sacrifice bunt. However, Nova wriggled out of trouble by retiring Machado and Snider on groundouts.

Gausman was able to recover from the first inning to retire 12 of the next 14 batters he faced until there was one out in the fifth and Rodriguez hit an estimated 453-foot blast into the base of the wall in front of the bleachers in left-center for his 20th home run of the season.

The home run also marked Rodriguez’s 3,024th career hit, which moved him past Lou Brock to 24th on the all-time hit list.

Gausman was charged with four runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings.

Nova surrendered two runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts before turning the game over to the bullpen in the seventh.

Left-hander Chasen Shreve and right-hander Dellin Betances pitched a perfect seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Left-handed closer Andrew Miller pitched around a solo home run by Chris Davis with on out in the ninth to record his 22nd save in 22 chances this season.

With the victory the Yankees have improved their season record to 52-41 and the 11 games over .500 is a season high for them. They also remain five games in front of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East.

The Orioles fell under .500 to 46-47 and they are now six games behind the Yankees.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Texeira is not letting up on what has been a revival season for him. He was 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, a run scored and two RBIs. He leads the Yankees in home runs (24) and RBIs (65). he also has more extra-base base hits (44) than he does singles (34).
  • If anyone believes that Rodriguez’s first half was a fluke you can dispel that myth now. At age 39, Rodriguez can still turn on a mid-90s fastball. It was his first home run since July 12 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. He now has 20 homers and 54 RBIs on the season.
  • Nova, 28, is still trying to find his rhythm after missing most of last season having to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. But this effort was a step in the right direction. Nova was able to keep both his curveball and his two-seam fastball down in the strike zone and that led to nine of his 18 outs coming on ground balls. This is start Nova can build upon after losing three straight starts.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Last night the bottom part of the order was actually responsible for pushing across the game-winning run. But they took a step backward in this game. Chase Headley (batting seventh), Didi Gregorius (eighth) and Stephen Drew (ninth) combined to go 0-for-8 with a walk and three strikeouts. Gregorius lined out to left in the sixth and that was the only ball they got out of the infield.

ON DECK

The Yankees will have a chance to sweep their division rivals and deal a serious blow to their playoff hopes on Thursday.

Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (6-3, 3.65 ERA) will get the call for the Yankees. Tanaka, 26, is coming off a victory against the Seattle Mariners on Friday in which he yielded three runs on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings. He does not have a victory in his career against the Orioles.

The Orioles will counter with right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (7-5, 3.29 ERA). Jimenez, 31, is coming off a disastrous shelling in which he gave up seven runs and three home runs in just 4 2/3 innings in a loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday.

Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.

 

Yankees Deliver Blow To Chen On Ryan’s Double

GAME 92

YANKEES 3, ORIOLES 2

Tough luck and injuries shelved Brendan Ryan for most of spring training and he was making only his fourth start of the season on Tuesday. But in the bottom of the sixth inning he delivered a tie-breaking RBI double that gave the Yankees an important victory.

Ryan’s two-out double off scored Didi Gregorius from first base and the Yankees’ vaunted bullpen shut down the Orioles over the final three innings as New York extended their lead in the American League East to five games by edging Baltimore in front of a paid crowd of 37,993 at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees had held an early 2-0 lead on left-hander Wei-Yin Chen and the Orioles after scoring a pair of runs in the first two innings.

Jacoby Ellsbury opened the bottom of the first with a ground-rule double, reached third on a sacrifice bunt by Brett Gardner and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Rodriguez, his 53rd RBI of the season.

Brian McCann led off the second inning with an opposite-field single and Chris Young followed with a single of his own. Chase Headley then scored McCann on an RBI double down the line in left.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, who was seeking his 10th victory, held the Orioles scoreless over the first five innings, yielding only an infield single to Adam Jones with two out in the fourth and three walks. However, he ran into difficulty in the sixth.

Jimmy Paredes stroked a one-out single and Jones reached on another infield single. One out later, Matt Wieters laced an RBI single to right to score Paredes.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi replaced Eovaldi with left-hander Justin Wilson and J.J. Hardy greeted him with a lined single to right that scored Jones but Wieters was retired in a rundown attempting to advance to third.

Eovaldi, who has not lost a game since June 16, was charged with two runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

The Yankees, however, were able to break through against Chen (4-6) in the sixth when Gregorius slapped an opposite-field single to left with two out. That set the stage for Ryan, who pulled a 0-1 fastball down the left-field line that scored Gregorius easily with the tie-breaking run.

Chen was charged with three runs on 10 hits and no walks with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Wilson (3-0) pitched an inning of scoreless relief to earn the victory and the “Twin Towers” of right-hander Dellin Betances and left-hander Andrew Miller combined to hold the Orioles to just one hit over the final 2 1/3 innings to close out the victory.

Miller threw a nine-pitch 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to notch his 20th save in 20 opportunities this season.

With the victory the Yankees are now 51-41 and they are five games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Orioles, who are in a three-way tie for second place in the division. The Orioles fell to 46-46.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Ryan is fortunate that he has a guaranteed two-year contract because he very well could have lost his roster spot to rookie Rob Refsnyder. But the Yankees chose to keep both the weak-hitting Stephen Drew and Ryan instead and it paid off on Tuesday. “It’s been obviously pretty frustrating. I haven’t really gotten to contribute in the first half at all, with injury after injury,” Ryan told reporters. “Hopefully that’s all behind me. I was excited to get the opportunity today, and obviously glad that I was able to come through.”
  • The bottom three spots in the order have been a black hole most of the season for the Yankees but Headley (hitting seventh), Gregorius (eighth) and Ryan (ninth) combined to go 4-for-12 (.333) with two doubles, two singles, one run scored and two RBIs. Ryan likely will continue to start at second base against left-handers because Drew is batting .215 in 65 at-bats against lefties. Of course, Drew is batting .168 against right-handers so why he is still on the roster at all is a head-scratcher.
  • Betances and Miller continue to dominate hitters out of the bullpen. The pair are a combined 6-3 with 28 saves, a 1.42 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings. It also appears after adding right-hander Adam Warren and getting Miller back off the disabled list, the bullpen has hit its stride again. It is the strength of this club and the major reason why the team is in first place.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • While Gregorius and Ryan came up big in the sixth inning, Chen was using them to escape big innings earlier in the game. In the second inning with Young on third and Headley on second and no outs, Gregorius struck out and Ryan popped up weakly. In the fourth inning with Young on second and Headley on first with one out, Gregorius flew out to center and Ryan grounded into a force out to end the threat. As a result, the Yankees were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and could not give Eovaldi a big enough lead to protect.
  • The Yankees also had a chance to extend their lead in the seventh when right-hander Tommy Hunter entered the game with one out and walked Rodriguez, allowed a double to Teixeira and walked McCann intentionally to load the bases. With the Yankees forced to keep the righty-handed-hitting Young in the game for his defense, he struck out swinging and Headley grounded out to leave the bases loaded. Ouch!

ON DECK

The Yankees will have a chance to win the series and deal another huge blow the Orioles with a victory on Wednesday.

Right-hander Ivan Nova (1-3, 3.42 ERA) will make his fifth start of the season for the Yankees. Nova was tagged for four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox on July 11, marking the first time in his career he has lost three consecutive starts.

The Orioles are expected to call up right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-1, 5.00 ERA) from Triple-A Norfolk to start this game. Gausman was optioned on July 8 in order to keep him on a five-day schedule. He was hammered for eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and one walk in 3 2/3 innings in a loss to the Minnesota Twins on July 7.

Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by ESPN and locally by the YES Network.

 

Yankees Take Walk On Wild Side To Defeat Birds

GAME 62

YANKEES 5, ORIOLES 3

There is an old saying in sports that you should “take what they give you.” When the Orioles began losing control of the strike zone on Sunday the Yankees took advantage for a come-from-behind victory at Camden Yards.

John Ryan Murphy laced a two-out, two-run single off left-hander Brian Matusz in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie as New York was able to salvage one game against Baltimore in their three-game weekend series.

Trailing 3-2 to start the inning, Chase Headley, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira drew three consecutive walks on 3-2 pitches off right-hander Mike Wright to load the bases.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter yanked Wright in favor of Matusz, who was just returning to action from an eight-game suspension. But Garrett Jones also was able to draw a walk on a 3-2 pitch and Headley came in to score the game-tying run.

After Matusz struck out Stephen Drew and Didi Gregorius, Murphy was able to slap a 2-0 pitch that caromed off the glove of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado and rolled into left-field for a double that allowed Rodriguez and Teixeira to score.

Wright (2-2) was charged with five runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 4-plus innings of work.

Meanwhile, the Yankees’ bullpen shut down the red-hot Orioles for the remainder of the game.

Left-hander Chasen Shreve (3-1) entered the game with two in the fifth inning and he pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn credit for the victory.

Left-hander Justin Wilson followed Shreve to hurl two perfect innings and Dellin Betances threw up a scoreless ninth to earn his third save in three opportunities this season.

Right-hander Adam Warren started for the Yankees and he was staked to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after Brett Gardner led off with an infield single and later scored on a two-out RBI double by Teixeira. It was Teixeira’s American-League-leading 47th RBI of the season.

But Warren was unable to hold the lead after Machado led off the bottom of the frame with a single and advanced to third on a single by Adam Jones. Chris Davis drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases and Nolan Reimold hit a bloop single to center to score Machado and Jones.

The Yankees tied the game in the second after they loaded the bases on Wright on consecutive singles by Drew, Gregorius and Murphy, who had three hits on the day. One out later, Gardner hit a line-drive sacrifice to center that scored Drew.

The Orioles broke the 2-2 tie in the fourth after Reimold walked and J.J. Hardy advanced him to second on a one-out single. But after Warren fanned Ryan Flaherty, Caleb Joseph hit a bloop double to right-center that scored Reimold.

Warren was charged with three runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

The victory by the Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak and allowed them to maintain a share of the lead in the American League East with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees are 34-28 and lead the Rays in the loss column by one game. The Orioles fell to 31-31 and they are three games back in fourth place in the division.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Murphy entered the game batting .208 in only 155 at-bats. But he ended up 3-for-4 with a double, two singles and two RBIs. The 24-year-old backup catcher deserves a lot of credit for coming up big in a two-out situation and provide a huge game-winning hit with starter Brian McCann resting.
  • Shreve, Wilson and Betances combined to shut out the Orioles over 4 1/3 innings on no hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Over the past three games the bullpen has not been what it should have and this game hopefully re-establishes them as a strength of the team. With Andrew Miller on the disabled list and Esmil Rogers and Jacob Lindgren shipped out to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, right-handers Sergio Santos, rookie Jose Ramirez and Chris Martin have the task of holding the bullpen together until Miller returns.
  • Teixeira’s double extended his hitting streak to five games. Over those five games, Teixeira is 8-for-17 (.471) with three doubles and two RBIs. That has raised his season average from .237 to .256. He is tied for fourth in the A.L. with 17 home runs and his 47 RBIs lead the league.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Manager Joe Girardi elected to remove Warren in the fifth inning despite the fact that he needed only one out to qualify for a victory. Perhaps the reason why was because Jimmy Paredes was on second after a single and Davis drew a one-out walk. After Warren struck out Reimold looking, Girardi brought in the left-hander Shreve to face the lefty-swinging Travis Snider, who was representing the potential go-ahead run. Warren had little to complain about because he had thrown 92 pitches and only 56 were strikes (61 percent).
  • If you take away Murphy’s game-winning double, the Yankees would have been 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. That pretty much tells you that if it were not for the four walks they drew in the fifth, they might have lost the game. The offense needs to be more consistent if this team wants to remain in first place.

BOMBER BANTER

Jacoby Ellsbury, 31, told reporters on Sunday that he hopes to be back with the Yankees before the end of the month. Ellsbury has been on the disabled list since injuring himself on a swing on May 19, spraining lateral collateral ligament in his right knee. Doctors told him it would take six weeks for him to recover, which would put his return date on June 30. But Ellsbury thinks he can return sooner. “I’m optimistic I can be back before that,” Ellsbury told reporters. “If I can trim any time off that, I think it would be a success.”  . . .  Right-hander Ivan Nova pitched six innings of one-run baseball on Saturday for Scranton and the team may decide soon whether he is ready to return. Nova, 28, who has been recovering from Tommy John surgery last year, gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three in his second rehab start. If the Yankees activate Nova he will be slotted back into the rotation and Warren could possibly be shifted back to the bullpen.

ON DECK

The Yankees will begin a four-game home-and-home series with Miami Marlins on Monday beginning at Marlins Park.

Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (4-1, 2.48 ERA) will start the series for the Yankees. Tanaka has given up just two runs in 14 innings in his two starts since he came off the disabled list on June 3. He has not faced the Marlins before.

Right-hander Tom Koehler (4-4, 4.00 ERA) will pitch for the Marlins. Koehler, 28, yielded five runs on eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Game-time will be 7:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by WPIX.

 

Pineda Fans 16 Orioles As Yanks Continue To Roll

GAME 32

YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 2

dominant  –  (adj) dom·i·nant: more important, powerful or successful than most or all others.

That word most accurately describes what the Yankees, the Orioles and a paid crowd of 39,059 at Yankee Stadium witnessed in the pitching performance turned in by right-hander Michael Pineda.

Pineda did give up one run on six hits but his dominance of the Orioles on Sunday went much deeper than that because he also struck out a career-high 16 batters and he did not issue a single walk as New York won the four-game series against Baltimore three games to one.

It was as if on this Mother’s Day that Pineda was asking the Orioles “Whose your Daddy?”

Pineda (5-0) not only remained undefeated for the season but he also remained undefeated against the Orioles in his career. The 16 strikeouts tied Pineda with the second highest strikeout total recorded in Yankee history behind Ron Guidry’s 18 strikeouts.

The 16 strikeouts tied Pineda with David Cone (against the Detroit Tigers in 1997) with the most by a right-handed pitcher and they were the most by any Yankee pitcher since David Wells did it (against the Oakland Athletics in 1997).

The only blemish in Pineda’s afternoon was a solo one-out home run by J.J. Hardy in the second inning.

Meanwhile, the Yankees scored four runs in the fourth inning off right-hander Bud Norris (1-4), who pitched despite the fact he was dealing with a stomach virus. But it was mostly the Yankee batters who made him really sick.

Carlos Beltran, who entered the game batting .194 and had no home runs, belted his first homer of the season with one out in the fourth inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Norris then walked Chase Headley and yielded a single to Stephen Drew. Didi Gregorius followed with an RBI single to score Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury capped the inning with a two-run double.

Norris was charged with four runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts in four innings. Norris’ ERA rose to an unsightly 9.88 on the season.

Brian McCann added a solo homer with one out in the fifth off left-hander Brian Matusz. The blast was McCann’s fourth of the season and now 23 of the 29 home runs he has hit with the Yankees have been at home.

The Yankees added a run in the seventh inning off right-hander Jason Garcia on a RBI double by Gregorius.

The Yankees had hoped to finish the game without using either right-hander Dellin Betances or left-hander Andrew Miller, however, right-hander Esmil Rogers gave up a one-out double to Jimmy Paredes and an RBI single to Adam Jones that made the score 6-2.

Manager Joe Girardi summoned Betances and the 6-foot-8 reliever got the final five outs, two of them by strikeout, to lock up the victory for the Yankees.

The Yankees ran their season record to 20-12 and they extended their lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East to three games. The slumping Orioles are now 13-16 and they 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Pineda was so efficient that he struck out 16 of the 21 batters he retired and 14 of the first 17 outs he recorded were by strikeout. Pineda is now 5-0 with a 2.72 ERA and his 54 strikeouts leads the American League. I think it is safe to now say he is the ace of the Yankees. “His stuff today was electric,” McCann said told reporters. “Almost every time he takes the ball, it is.”
  • As I posted on Saturday, Beltran seems to have turned his season around finally. He was 2-for-2 with a double, a home run, two walks and an RBI. That pulled his average up from .194 to .210. It may not seem like much but the Yankees do need Beltran to contribute in the middle of the order. Perhaps he will begin doing it more often now.
  • All the attention on Pineda allowed Gregorius’ day to almost go unnoticed. He was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs in what was one of his best games with the Yankees. Gregorius is now batting .225 and he seems to have settled down considerably on defense at shortstop also.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

Beating the defending division champions in a four-game series is a great achievement. This was a signature game for Pineda also. He is serving notice to the other teams in the division that he is the best pitcher in it. He won’t get any argument here. No one in this division is really that close.

ON DECK

The Yankees now head back out in the road on Monday to play a four-game series against the Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.

Left-hander CC Sabathia (0-5, 5.45 ERA) will try for his first victory of the season. Sabathia was tagged with four runs on nine hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

The Rays will start right-hander Alex Colome (2-0, 1.80 ERA). Colome gave up two runs on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts in five innings in a victory at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.

Game-time will be 7:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by the YES Network.

 

Orioles’ Home Run Barrage Bests Whitley, Yankees

GAME 31

ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 2

The Orioles hit three home runs within a seven-batter sequence off right-hander Chase Whitley and Wei-Yin Chen held the Yankees to one run in seven innings as Baltimore derailed New York on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Jimmy Paredes homered on the first pitch from Whitley with two out in the third inning. With one out in the third, Chris Davis also went yard on the first pitch and, two batters later, Alejandro De Aza connected with a man on to give the Orioles a quick 4-0 lead.

Chen (1-1), meanwhile, held the Yankees to one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings to earn his first victory of the season. Zach Britton retired the last two batters to earn his sixth save.

Whitley (1-1), who only gave up three home runs over 143 batters in Yankee Stadium prior to this game, was charged with five runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings.

The Yankees only run off Chen came in the fifth on a Chase Headley one-out single, a double by Stephen Drew and a sacrifice fly off the bat of John Ryan Murphy.

They added an unearned run in the eighth inning when Jacoby Ellsbury reached on a fielding error by Ryan Flaherty. Brett Gardner singled him to second and Carlos Beltran scored Ellsbury on a two-out RBI single.

The loss dropped the Yankees season record to 19-12. They are two games ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. The O’s are 13-15 and 4 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the division.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Beltran was 1-for-4 with an RBI and he does appear to be slowly shaking his hitting woes. On April 28, he was batting .159. Since then Beltran is 9-for-35 (.257) with five RBIs. That has raised his average to .194. He still has some work to do but he appears to be getting somewhere.
  • Jose Pirela has only played in three games but he already appears ready to spark the bottom of the batting order. He was the Yankee to have more than one hit on Saturday. He was 2-for-4 and is 4-for-11 (.364) in those three games. Considering that Drew is batting .182 and Didi Gregarious is batting .209, Pirela looks to getting more and more playing time at second base.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • This was in every sense of the word a “throwaway” game for the Yankees. Manager Joe Girardi knew going into the contest that his “Twin Towers” in the bullpen, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, were unavailable and Gregorius, Alex Rodriguez and Brian McCann did not start. It does not mean that the Yankees did not try to win the game. But let’s just say they played it with one hand tied behind their back. They chose to rest some people and were definitely looking at the big picture.
  • Whitley started off with a bang by striking out four of the first six batters he faced but he got caught up in trying to pound the zone early with strikes. Paredes and Davis made him pay by cranking out first-pitch fastballs. It happens and remember that Whitley is, in every sense, the team’s No. 8 starter behind Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Nathan Eovaldi, Adam Warren and both Chris Capuano and Ivan Nova, who are rehabbing injuries.
  • Ellsbury was 0-for-5, which snapped his 11-game hitting streak. Even with that he reached base on an error and scored one of the team’s two runs. The 0-for-5 day dropped his season average to .347 to fall behind Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, who was 1-fo-4 and is batting .355 to lead the American League.

BOMBER BANTER

Rodriguez missed Saturday’s game with what Girardi told reporters was tightness n both legs. Girardi said the he hoped to have the veteran designated hitter back for Sunday’s game. Rodriguez, 40, felt tightness in his legs after Friday’s game in which he hit his first triple since 2012. Rodriguez is second on the team with seven home runs and 19 RBIs and he has played in 26 of the Yankees’ 31 games.  . . .  The Yankees placed right-hander Chris Martin, 28, on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday with tendinitis in his right elbow. The Yankees recalled right-hander Branden Pinder, 26, from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Martin on the 25-man roster. Martin is 0-1 with a 3.55 ERA in 12 2/3 innings over 15 appearances. Pinder was up with the Yankees previously this season and he has pitched two scoreless innings.

ON DECK

The Yankees can still claim a 3-1 series victory on Sunday against the Orioles.

Right-hander Pineda (4-0, 2.97 ERA) will go to the mound for the Yankees. Pineda has never lost in his career to the Orioles and he is coming off a game in which he shut out the Toronto Blue Jays on five hits and one walk with six strikeouts in eight innings on Tuesday. It was, by far, the most dominant outing for Pineda this season.

The Orioles will counter with right-hander Bud Norris (1-3, 9.75 ERA), who was ill on Saturday. Norris yielded three runs on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts in seven innings in a loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday.

Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.

 

Yankees’ ‘Twin Towers’ Shut Down Orioles Again

GAME 30

YANKEES 5, ORIOLES 4

You made me love you
I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do it
You made me want you
And all the time you knew it, I guess you always knew it

                                           –  “You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want To Do It)” by Al Jolson

In a game in which the Yankees took a 5-0 lead after three innings the last thing manager Joe Girardi was thinking was that he would have to use his “Twin Towers” to have to close out the game. But that is just what happened on Friday night in front of a paid crowd of 38,731 at Yankee Stadium.

Girardi was forced into using 6-foot-8 right-hander Dellin Betances and 6-foot-7 left-hander Andrew Miller to close out the final 2 1/3 innings as New York downed Baltimore for a second straight game.

Betances (4-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief to get credit for the victory and Miller hurled a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his Major-League-leading 13th save in 13 opportunities.

The Yankees stormed out to an early lead on right-hander Miguel Gonzalez (3-2) when Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff infield single and Brett Gardner followed with a double.

Alex Rodriguez scored Ellsbury with a sacrifice fly and, one out later, Brian McCann laced a 3-0 fastball into the seats in right-field for his third home run of the season.

Two innings later, Ellsbury reached on a leadoff walk and Gardner advanced him to third with a single. Gardner subsequently stole second. Two outs later, McCann was walked intentionally to load the bases and struggling veteran outfielder Carlos Beltran then cracked a two-run double to pad the Yankees’ lead to 5-0.

However, right-hander Adam Warren encountered both pitch count and command issues in the fifth inning.

J.J. Hardy and Ryan Flaherty opened the frame by drawing back-to-back walks. Manny Machado followed with an RBI single that scored Hardy.

One out later, Adam Jones loaded the bases with a single and Delmon Young scored Flaherty and chased Warren with a fielder’s choice groundout that erased Jones at second.

Warren left having been charged with two runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. He left having thrown 88 pitches and he has now failed to complete six innings in any of his eight career starts.

Left-hander Justin Wilson struck out Chris Davis to end the inning, however, he ran into trouble of his own in the sixth inning.

After retiring the first two batters, Wilson allowed a double to J.J. Hardy and Flaherty reached after being hit with a pitch. Girardi brought in right-hander Chris Martin to replace Wilson.

But Martin ended up issuing a walk to Machado to load the bases and rookie Jimmy Paredes singled in two runs to draw the Orioles within a run.

So the combination of Warren’s inability to go further in the game and shaky bullpen work from Wilson and Martin forced Girardi’s hand to use his best bullpen tandem for a second straight game.

Meanwhile, the Yankees offense went to sleep after Gonzalez left having given up five runs on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in four innings.

Left-hander T.J. McFarland, right-hander Darren O’Day and left-hander Zach Britton held the Yankees to three hits and one intentional walk over the final five innings to keep the O’s in the game.

With the victory the Yankees improved to 19-11 and they maintained a three-game lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. The Orioles, who lost their third straight contest, fell to 12-15 and they are tied with the Boston Red Sox in fourth place, 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Ellsbury was 1-for-3 and scored two runs and he is now batting .362, which now leads the American League. Jones, who entered the game hitting .367, was 1-for-5 and that dropped his average to .359. Ellsbury and Gardner combined to go 3-for-7 with a double, two singles, a stolen base and four runs scored. The tandem is a combined 71-for-205 (.346) on the season.
  • McCann continues to love Yankee Stadium because 22 of his 26 home runs with the Yankees have come at home. McCann entered the contest in a 1-for-14 (.071) funk before he connected for his third home run of the season. McCann is now batting .231.
  • The “Twin Towers” of Betances and Miller have now combined for a 4-0 record, 13 saves and a 0.00 ERA in 31 games. They have yielded only 11 hits and 16 walks with 54 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings. Their combined WHIP is 0.81. Unfortunately, neither will be available for Saturday’s game.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Warren is showing everyone what I already knew: He is better suited coming out of the bullpen. He is 2-1 with a 4.65 ERA in six starts but his failure to pitch six complete innings is hurting the team because it is draining the bullpen. It is a good thing that left-hander Chris Capuano is making some minor-league rehab starts because the Yankees could use Capuano so they can shift Warren back to the bullpen, where he recorded a 2.97 ERA in 69 games last season.
  • Chase Headley went 0-for-4 and he seems to be really mired a three-week slump. On April 22, Headley was hitting .254 with two homers and nine RBIs. Since then he is 10-for-50 (.200) with one homer and one RBI. After a hot spring it looked as if Headley was primed for a big season, but it is looking like he has fallen back in some old bad habits at the plate.
  • Martin’s 0-1 record and 3.55 ERA in 15 appearances seem like pretty good numbers. However, one very ugly number for him is that he has allowed five of seven inherited runners to score and two of them scored on Friday on Paredes’ bases-loaded single in the sixth. Martin has to do better when he enters the game with runners on base.

BOMBER BANTER

After being harassed by the press for two months, Girardi finally named Miller as the team’s closer after the left-hander earned his 13th save. Asked again if Miller was his closer at his postgame press conference, Girardi told reporters: “Is there a reason I have to? He’s been closing games for us. He’s our closer. Is that better? Is that going to be the headline tomorrow?”  . . .  Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka played catch for a second straight day prior to Friday’s game and reported no issues with his right wrist or forearm. Tanaka, who has been on the disabled list since April 28 with tendinitis in his wrist and a mild strain in his forearm, made 25 throws from 60 feet and another 25 from 90 feet. The Yankees believe he is on schedule to be back in about a month.

ON DECK

The Yankees will continue their four-game series with the O’s on Saturday having clinched at least in a series split already.

Right-hander Chase Whitley (1-0, 0.75 ERA) will make his third start of the season since being recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Whitley, 25, needs to pitch the same way he pitched on Monday when he shut out the Toronto Blue Jays on six hits and no walks with six strikeouts in seven innings for his first victory.

The Orioles will start left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (0-1, 2.83 ERA), who surrendered two runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings in a no-decision against the Rays on Sunday.

Game-time will be 1:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast by the YES Network.

 

Tex’s Double, A-Rod’s 661st Spur Yankees Past O’s

GAME 29

YANKEES 4, ORIOLES 3

The Pythagorean Theorem. Newton’s Law. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. You can now add to those “The Joe Girardi Formula,” which is (1) get a lead by the sixth inning (2) go to your terrific bullpen and (3) win the game.

As an equation it would read: L(6th) + B(GAS) = V

That is exactly the formula the Yankees have used all season and it worked again against the Orioles on Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

Alex Rodriguez blasted the 661st home run of his career to pass Willie Mays, Mark Teixeira drove in two runs  –  including a game-winning double in the fifth  –  and New York’s awesome bullpen held Baltimore scoreless over the final 3 1/3 innings for their 18th victory of the season.

The Yankees and Orioles were locked in a bit of a seesaw affair for five innings in a pitching matchup between right-handers Chris Tillman and Nathan Eovaldi.

The Orioles drew first blood when Jimmy Parades tagged an Eovaldi fastball into the bullpen right-center for his fourth home run of the season and an early 1-0 lead with one out in the first inning.

But the Yankees responded the bottom of the frame when Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to nine games with a leadoff single and he advanced to third on a single by Brett Gardner.

Rodriguez then launched a high-arcing ball to right that right-fielder Delmon Young grabbed off the top of the wall to rob him of what would have been No. 661. But he settled for a sacrifice fly that scored Ellsbury. Teixeira then followed with a shot off the wall in right that scored Gardner. Teixeira was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double on a throw from Young.

The Orioles tied it in the third inning on a one-out solo home run off the bat of Caleb Joseph, his third of the season.

The Yankees then took back the lead with two out in the third inning when Rodriguez launched a Tillman fastball just to the left of straightaway center for his seventh home run of the season and the one that now places him alone in fourth place on the all-time home run list behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.

Most of the paid crowd of 39,816 were on their feet demanding a curtain call for the 40-year-old designated hitter and Rodriguez obliged with both arms raised in front of the home dugout.

Eovaldi, however, was unable to hold that lead either. Travis Snider led off the fifth with a ringing double down the right-field line and Joseph scored him with an RBI double.

But Eovaldi was able to wriggle out of a jam when Manny Machado sacrificed Joseph to third and he walked Paredes. First, he picked off Paredes and then he retired hot-hitting Adam Jones, who ended up 0-for-4 on the night, on a groundout.

The Yankees then reclaimed the lead for good in the fifth after Gardner doubled to start the inning and, one out later, Teixeira laced an RBI double into right to score Gardner.

Tillman (2-4) was charged four runs on 10 hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. The Orioles’ ace entered play with a career ERA of 7.47 at Yankee Stadium, his highest ERA in any ballpark.

Eovaldi (4-0) also left in the sixth with Young on third and J.J. Hardy on first with two out. Left-hander Justin Wilson came on to retire Snider on a groundout.

Eovaldi was charged with three runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings to earn his first career victory at Yankee Stadium.

Wilson pitched a perfect seventh and Dellin Betances hurled a perfect eighth. Andrew Miller pitched around a leadoff four-pitch walk to Steve Pearce by retiring the next three hitters, two of them via the strikeout, to earn his Major-League-leading 12th save of the season in 12 chances.

With the victory, the Yankees are 18-11 and they have opened up a three-game lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. The Orioles fell to 12-14 and they are tied with the Boston Red Sox for last place in the division, 4 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • A-Rod had himself a good night by going 2-for-3 including his historic home run and he drove in two runs. Though he is batting only .245, he is second on the team with seven homers and 18 RBIs. Gardner and Ellsbury combined to go 4-for-7 with a walk, a double and three runs scored and they are making it very easy for Rodriguez and Teixeira to drive in runs.
  • Tex is also holding up his end in the cleanup spot. He was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs and he now leads the team with 10 homers and 25 RBIs despite batting only .223. Teixeira is on a pace to drive in more than 130 runs this season.
  • Wilson, Betances and Miller combined to retire 10 of the final 11 batters they faced, striking out three and only allowing one ball to reach the outfield. Though Eovaldi was shaky at times, he at least pitched far enough into the contest to allow this very special bullpen to do its work.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Although Carlos Beltran was 0-for-4 in the game, which lowered his season average to .187, I did see some encouraging signs. Beltran hit two balls hard into the deepest part of center-field in the fourth and the fifth innings. Beltran remains without a home run and he has driven in just nine runs. The Yankees keep hoping he gets into a groove but for now we are still waiting.
  • Though A-Rod and Tex got into the swing of things, Brian McCann did not in the fifth spot in the order. He also was 0-for-4 with a strikeout. McCann keeps hitting right into the teeth of the shift and that has dragged his season average down to .227.
  • Eovaldi might remind Yankee fans of Phil Hughes, who also dealt with problems getting outs with two strikes and keeping the ball in the ballpark. There is no denying that Eovaldi’s velocity is impressive. But the command of his pitches is still an issue that he needs improve. With Masahiro Tanaka on the disabled list, the Yankees need Eovaldi to step up.

BOMBER BANTER

Tanaka took a first step in his recovery from tendinitis in right wrist and mild strain in his right forearm by making 50 throws from 60 feet prior to Thursday’s game. The 26-year-old right-hander did not feel any pain and general manager Brian Cashman told reporters that Tanaka remains on a timetable that will allow him to return in a month.  . . .  Despite the fact Jose Pirela had two hits in his season debut at second base on Wednesday, Stephen Drew will remain the starter at second for now. Drew was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk on Thursday but he is still batting .169 with four homers and 10 RBIs in 26 games.

ON DECK

The Yankees will continue their four-game home weekend series with the Orioles on Friday.

Right-hander Adam Warren (2-1, 4.78 ERA) will start for the Yankees. He got credit for a victory over the Red Sox on Sunday despite yielding four runs on four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. It will be Warren’s first appearance against the O’s as a starter.

The Orioles will counter with right-hander Miguel Gonzalez (3-1, 2.59 ERA). Gonzalez, 30, shut out the Rays on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings for a victory on Saturday. He defeated the Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 14.

Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.

 

O’s Score 5 in Sixth As Yankees’ Bullpen Implodes

GAME 9

ORIOLES 7, YANKEES 5

Nathan Eovaldi struck out nine batters in five innings and provided the bullpen a 3-2 lead on Wednesday but the Orioles scored five runs in the sixth inning as Baltimore handed New York a difficult defeat at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Jonathan Schoop, who batted .209 last season, greeted right-hander David Carpenter (0-1) with a first-pitch home run into the bleachers in left-center to erase a 3-2 lead and end Eovaldi’s bid for his first victory with the Yankees.

Alejandro De Aza followed with a single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Everth Cabrera. Adam Jones was walked intentionally and Carpenter was replaced by left-hander Justin Wilson with left-handed hitters Travis Snider and Chris Davis due up.

However, Delmon Young pinch-hit for Snider and he delivered an RBI single to score De Aza and Davis followed with a two-run double. One out later, Caleb Joseph, who batted .207 last season, completed the five-run onslaught with an RBI single off right-hander Chris Martin.

Right-hander Brad Brach (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings to get credit for the victory. Zach Britton pitched the ninth to earn his second consecutive save against the Yankees and his third of the season.

The Yankees fell to 3-6 on the season while the Orioles improved to 5-4.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • The Yankees finally are beginning to get some offense from Carlos Beltran. The 38-year-old outfielder gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the third inning when he followed a two-out double by Jacoby Ellsbury and a walk to Chase Headley with a two-run double to center off Orioles starter Bud Norris. Beltran is 4-for-15 (.286) in his past four games with two doubles and two RBIs.
  • The Yankees continue to consistent at-bats from Alex Rodriguez, who homered with one out in the fourth inning to give Eovaldi and the Yankees a 3-1 lead. It was Rodriguez’s second home run of the season and he finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk and he now hitting .286 on the season.
  • Eovaldi was far from perfect against the O’s but he battled hard to yield just two runs on eight hits and three walks. He pitched only one clean inning but his nine strikeouts prevented the Orioles from scoring any more runs. Though the 25-year-old right-hander needs to work on his command, he showed a lot of grit and deserved a better fate.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • The bullpen entered the evening with a 1.73 ERA, which ranked second in the American League. But it blew up in a hurry. Carpenter, 29, was the main culprit. Remember that Carpenter was 4-1 with a sparkling 1.78 ERA in 56 games with the Atlanta Braves in 2013. But he slipped to a 6-4 mark with a 3.54 ERA in 65 games last season. His line on Wednesday was three runs on two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning. Ouch!
  • Wilson, 27, is a similar story. He was 6-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 58 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013 but he fell back to 3-4 with a 4.20 ERA in 70 games last season. Wilson yielded two runs on two hits while not retiring a batter. Double ouch!
  • Stephen Drew was only starter who did not get a hit or drive in a run in the game. He was 0-4 with two strikeouts and he grounded into a double play. After showing signs last week he may be coming back with the bat after his disastrous 2014 season, he is now batting .148.

BOMBER BANTER

The Yankees made yet another roster move to bolster the bullpen. The team recalled right-hander Branden Pinder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and they optioned right-hander Joel De La Cruz to Double-A Trenton. De La Cruz, 25, did not appear in a game. Pinder, 26, was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three games with the RailRiders. He pitched in the eighth inning on Wednesday and yielded no runs on one hit. The Yankees also announced that right-hander Kyle Davies, 31, cleared waivers and he was optioned to Scranton. Davies had been designated for assignment on Monday when the Yankees recalled De La Cruz.  . . .  Minor-league right-hander Wilking Rodriguez received an 80-game suspension without pay on Wednesday for a violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Rodriguez, according to the commissioner’s office, tested positive for Furosemide, a performance-enhancing substance. Rodriguez, 25, was 1-0 with 0.00 ERA and two saves with the Yankees this spring and he was assigned to Scranton.

ON DECK

The Yankees have Thursday off and will begin a weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.

Right-hander Adam Warren, 27, will open the series for the Yankees. Warren surrendered two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

The Rays will start 28-year-old right-hander Nathan Karns, who is 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA in two starts. Karns held the Miami Marlins to two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks in seven innings in a victory on Sunday.

Game-time will be 7:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.

 

Orioles Stave Off Late Rally To Frustrate Yankees

GAME 8

ORIOLES 4, YANKEES 3

Adam Jones drove in two runs and Miguel Gonzalez limited the Yankees to one run while he struck out a career-high 10 batters as Baltimore withstood a late rally by New York to win on a shower-filled Tuesday evening at Oriole Park in Camden Yards.

The Orioles took an early 3-0 lead against left-hander CC Sabathia on a two-out solo home run by Jones in the first inning, a sacrifice fly RBI by Jones in the third and a costly two-out RBI double by Caleb Joseph in the fourth.

Gonzalez (1-1) limited the Yankees to just two hits until the sixth inning when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out double by Mark Teixeira.

The Orioles added a run in the seventh on a leadoff triple by Joseph and sacrifice fly RBI off the bat of Everth Cabrera.

Sabathia (0-2) pitched well but still yielded four runs on seven hits and one walk while he struck out seven in seven innings.

Gonzalez, however, surrendered one run on four hits and one walk in seven innings to earn the victory.

The Yankees mounted a late rally against right-hander Kevin Gausman in the eighth when Didi Gregorius reached on a bloop single. After Alejandro De Aza made a running catch of Ellsbury’s opposite-field fly ball, Chase Headley singled to advance Gregorius to third.

Then second baseman Jonathan Schoop made a diving stop of Carlos Beltran’s ground ball to retire Beltran as Gregorius scored.

Then Teixiera lofted a fly ball into left that ticked off De Aza’s glove for an error and allowed Headley to score to cut the deficit to one run.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter was forced to bring his closer, left-hander Zach Britton, to quell the rally with the tying run on second.

Schoop made another running grab of Brian McCann’ roller into shallow right-field to end the rally.

Britton pitched a perfect ninth to earn his second save of the season.

The Yankees are now 3-5 on the season. The Orioles are 4-4.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Sabathia was plagued by an inability to pitch one clean inning. He was tagged by single hits in every inning he pitched except the fourth when he yielded two. Still, with all that, the Yankees’ inability to score him any runs doomed him despite his seven strikeouts. So you can say that Sabathia was outpitched but he was not outclassed.
  • Teixeira looks locked in at the plate in the early going. He drove in one run with a double and his fly ball did allow Headley to score. While most of the Yankees are struggling with the bat, Teixeira appears to be primed for a big season in the cleanup spot.
  • Beltran has been struggling to find his groove and yet he was 1-for-4 with an RBI and he hit the ball hard in each trip to the plate. His grounder in the eighth almost was a single and the play by Schoop that retired him saved the Orioles was the crucial play of the game.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • I am not a big fan of Garrett Jones. The veteran first baseman/outfielder struggled all through spring training and he has started the season off slowly as well. He was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and he bounced back weakly to the pitcher in his first at-bat. He is hitting .154. Jones is being paid to hit right-hand pitching and if he doesn’t the Yankees will have to look elsewhere.
  • McCann looked as if he was getting hot and then he regressed on Tuesday by going 0-for-4 on four groundouts. The Yankees need McCann to deliver big numbers in power and RBIs this season. His at-bat against Britton in the eighth was critical and he failed to deliver.
  • Sabathia is a waste of space as a fielder. The Yankees had a potential double-play ball in the second inning off the bat of Chris Davis. Teixiera fielded it and he threw to Gregorius to retire Delmon Young, who had singled. But when Gregorius made the return throw to first, Sabathia failed to cover the bag. Second baseman Stephen Drew tried to cover but was late. Later that inning, Sabathia was charged with an error when his throw to retire Joseph hit the runner. Luckily he retired De Aza to end the inning without a run scoring. Once again, manager Joe Girardi needs to lay down the law on Sabathia to do his job.

BOMBER BANTER

Starting left-fielder Brett Gardner did not play on Tuesday and Girardi said he likely will serve as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner until Friday. Gardner was struck on the right wrist by a pitch from left-hander Wei-Yin Chen on Monday and he was forced to leave the game in the seventh inning.

ON DECK

The Yankees will try to win the series against the Orioles on Wednesday.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will make his second start of the season for the Yankees. Eovaldi had a sensational spring but he had a bit of a hiccup in his first start against the Boston Red Sox on Friday. He was charged with three runs on eight hits and a walk while he struck out one in 5 1/3 innings of a game that lasted 19. The Red Sox won it, 6-5.

The Orioles will call on right-hander Bud Norris, who was gouged for eight runs on seven hits and one walk in just three innings by the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. The Orioles say they are not concerned about Norris but he was 0-3 with a 9.26 ERA this spring.

Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.

 

Drew’s Pinch-Hit Grand Slam Clips Orioles’ Wings

GAME 7

YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 5

Yankees manager Joe Girardi was forced to replace Brett Gardner in the lineup with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh inning on Monday so he called upon Stephen Drew. The 31-year-old infielder made Girardi look like a genius when he won the game with a pinch-hit grand slam.

Drew’s home run came on a 3-1 count off right-hander Tommy Hunter and it turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 Yankee lead as New York held on to edge Baltimore at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Orioles had just taken a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Adam Jones victimized right-hander Michael Pineda with a two-out, two-run home run.

But the Yankees managed to load the bases against Hunter (0-2) on a single by Chris Young, a walk to John Ryan Murphy and an infield single by Jacoby Ellsbury.

Gardner was due up but his right wrist was swollen after being hit by a pitch in the first inning by Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen. So Girardi sent Drew up to pinch-hit and the result was the 11th pinch-hit grand slam in team history.

Pineda (1-0) yielded five runs on nine hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to earn the victory despite not looking as sharp as he did in his first start. Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller held the Orioles scoreless the rest of the way with Miller earning his second save of the season.

The Yankees took an early 1-0 lead on the O’s with two out in the second inning when Young cracked his second home run of the season off Chen.

The Orioles quickly answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame on consecutive one-out RBI doubles by Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop.

But the Yankees were able to tie the game up with two out in the fourth when Mark Teixeira took Chen deep for his third home run of the season.

With the game 6-4 in the seventh, the Orioles loaded the bases with a pair of hits off Pineda and another off Betances. Alejandro De Aza then hit a potential double-play ball to Drew but Didi Gregorius’ throw to first was wide of the bag and it allowed Machado to score to draw the Orioles to within a run.

However, Betances was able to end the threat with a bases-loaded strikeout of Chris Davis, who struck out in all of his four at-bats.

With the victory the Yankees improved to 3-4. The Orioles are also 3-4.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

  • Drew entered the game 3-for-20 (.150) but he had homered and driven in two runs in Sunday’s 14-4 thrashing of the Boston Red Sox. Drew is coming off his worst season as a professional and the Yankees are hoping he can bounce back this season. His grand slam goes a long way towards proving he could be on the road back.
  • Teixeira might be on the same road back also after hitting three home runs in his first six games of the season. In 2011, Teixeira hit 39 home runs and drove in 111 runs. But since then the 35-year-old first baseman has been plagued by injuries. After going on a gluten-free, non-dairy diet this offseason, Teixeira looks fit and his early results look real good.
  • Miller entered the game with one out in the eighth and ended up striking out three batters to earn a five-out save. Miller helped carry the Orioles into the playoffs last season but on Monday he used his patented slider to make them look bad. Given Betances’ shaky outings, Miller looks like he has a solid grip on closing duties for now.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

  • Carlos Beltran was 0-for-4, including hitting into a double play and a strikeout. He is batting .143 early this season. The 38-year-old outfielder is coming off a injury-marred 2014 campaign and the Yankees need him to return to the form that saw him hit .296 with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013.
  • Gregorius was also 0-for-4 and is batting .130 on the season. The Yankees are hoping that the 25-year-old shortstop can develop as offensive threat this season. His defensive skills are excellent but he has looked a bit shaky in the field early. But his biggest problem has been base-running gaffes. The Yankees can afford to be patient with him though.
  • Betances walked two batters and gave up two hits in his one inning of work. He was lucky he was able to get Davis to strike out with bases loaded in the seventh but he needed help in the eighth when Jones singled to open the inning. Murphy threw out Jones attempting to steal, one of two base-runners he cut down attempting to steal. Betances promptly walked Travis Snider and Girardi was forced to pull him early in favor of Miller.

BOMBER BANTER

Gardner is listed as day-to-day but he likely will miss at least one game with a bruised right wrist. X-rays on Gardner’s wrist were negative. Gardner, 31, was hit almost in the same spot in Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.  . . .  In yet another bullpen move in the wake of Friday’s marathon 19-inning 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees on Monday recalled right-hander Joel De La Cruz from Double-A Trenton and designated for assignment right-hander Kyle Davies. Cruz, 25, was 7-9 with a 4.44 ERA in 28 games (22 starts) with Trenton and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre last season. Davies, 31, pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings on Sunday against the Red Sox. It was his first appearance in a major-league game since 2011.

ON DECK

The Yankees will continue their three-game series with the Orioles on Tuesday.

Veteran left-hander CC Sabathia gets the start for the Yankees. Sabathia gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits but did strike out eight batters in a loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday.

The Orioles will counter with right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, who surrendered a run on three hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings in a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.