Baltimore, MD (SportsNetwork.com) – Miguel Gonzalez struck out a career-high
10 over seven very effective innings, and the Baltimore Orioles survived
another shaky effort from their bullpen to record a 4-3 win over the New York
Yankees.
Gonzalez (1-1) held a Yankee offense that had put up 20 runs over its previous
two games to just one on four hits, helping Baltimore even this three-game
series after blowing a seventh-inning lead in Monday’s 6-5 loss.
New York nearly staged a late comeback again, however, scoring twice in the
eighth before Zach Britton snuffed the rally with a four-out save.
Adam Jones aided Gonzalez’s outstanding effort by driving in two runs and
homering for the third time in as many games. Caleb Joseph added a pair of
hits, including an RBI single, for the Orioles.
While Gonzalez was terrific, the Yankees received a second straight solid but
unspectacular start out of CC Sabathia (0-2). The onetime Cy Young Award
winner was reached for four runs and fanned seven over seven innings.
Gonzalez was staked to an early lead courtesy of Jones, who hammered a
fastball into the seats in left in the first inning for his fourth career
homer off Sabathia.
Jones knocked in another run in his next at-bat with a third-inning sacrifice
fly that brought in Everth Cabrera, whom Sabathia walked on four pitches and
advanced to third on Manny Machado’s single.
Delmon Young extended the margin to 3-0 an inning later by reaching on a
swinging bunt and later beating Carlos Beltran’s throw to the plate on a soft
two-out single from Joseph.
The Yankees didn’t generate nearly as much success against Gonzalez, who
stranded early doubles from Beltran and Chris Young and retired 10 straight
following a walk to Stephen Drew in the second inning.
That streak came to an end when Jacoby Ellsbury singled and came around on
Mark Teixeira’s two-out double in the sixth, but Gonzalez regrouped to finish
his strong outing by striking out the side in order in the seventh.
New York’s offense came to life when facing Kevin Gausman in the eighth,
however. Singles by Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley put runners on the
corners and after Beltran plated a run with a groundout, Teixeira’s long drive
to left went off the glove of Alejandro De Aza for an error that cut the lead
to 4-3 and brought Britton into the game.
The Orioles closer promptly retired Brian McCann to strand Teixeira at second,
then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his second save of the season.
Game Notes
Gonzalez’s previous career best of nine strikeouts was set twice previously,
including a start against New York in 2012 … Brett Gardner, hit by a pitch
from Baltimore’s Wei-Yin Chen in Monday’s opener, was held out of the Yankees’
lineup and is expected to miss Wednesday’s game as well… Sabathia fell to
0-5 with a 5.48 ERA in seven starts at Camden Yards since the beginning of the
2012 season … The Orioles went 17-1 last season in games in which Joseph
recorded an RBI … Baltimore is now 4-0 when scoring first, while the Yankees
dropped to 1-5 when giving up the game’s first run.
