When Yankee fans looked at the first series of the season and saw the Baltimore Orioles, they thought " 3-0 baby!" But that will not be the case, as the O's stunned the Yankees on Saturday (3/30) 5-3, in front of a sellout crowd in the Bronx.
This game looked like a mismatch on paper, as James Paxton would be making his Yankees debut, while Baltimore countered with Nate Karns. a pitcher that hadn't pitched in two years coming into this game, and would be serving as the "opener" for the O's who would be going with their bullpen for the entire game.
Early on, it was what you would expect. The Yankees got guys on base early, as they had the bases loaded with one out in the first, before Miguel Andujar grounded into an inning-endingdouble play, killing the rally, and changing the course of the game.
James Paxton was sharp for the Yankees, as he went five scoreless innings before Baltimore finally got to him in the 6th. with the Yankees leading 1-0 ( On a DJ LeMaiheu RBI single in the 3rd that brought home Torres), the Orioles got a couple of leadoff hits and then scored when Dwight Smith brought home Jesus Sucre to tie the score at one.
With runners still on first and second, and only one out, the Orioles tried to pull off a double steal and it worked. Gary Sanchez's throw to second was wide, which allowed the runners to move up two bases, scoring a run and giving the O's a 2-1 lead with 12 outs left on this Saturday afternoon.
As bad as the Yankees offense was, their bullpen kept them in the game, as Adam Ottavino and Chad Green combined for 4 outs of one-run ball ( As Green allowed a 7th inning RBI single to Jesus Sucre) when it could have been a lot worse. The Orioles left 2 runners on base against these two pitchers, to keep the game at 3-1 O's, heading into the 9th.
In the 9th, Jonathan Holder came on for the Yankees, with runners on the corners with only one out, allowed a two-run double to Jesus Sucre, to give Baltimore a 5-1 lead, with only 3 Yankees outs left.
Against O's closer Richard Belier, the Yankees staged a rally. Troy Tulowitzki started things off with an oppo-taco HR to right field for his first HR as a yankee and cut the deficit to 5-2.
After a DJ LeMahiheu double, Brett Gardner, lined out, to bring up Aaron Judge, with a runner on second, with one out.
Instead of swinging for the fences, Judge lined a single to left, to put runners on first and third with Giancarlo Stanton due up. At this point, the Orioles knew they needed to make a change if they wanted to hang on and win this game. So they did what any manager of the Orioles would do, they took a risk, and put in right-hander Mike Weight JR to face Stanton.
Unexpectedly, it worked as Stanton struck out to bring up 2 outs, and Luke Voit at the dish.
Out of desperation, Voit lofted a fly ball to right field, that somehow dropped in for a hit scoring a run, trimming the score to 5-3, and giving Miguel Andujar a chance to redeem himself with runners on the corners and 2 outs.
But unfortunately for the Yankees, it wasn't their day as Andujar went down swinging to end the game and give Baltimore a 5-3 win.
Post game:
While the Orioles were whooping it up in the visiting clubhouse, Aaron Judge was saying that tomorrow is a must win game by saying " Tomorrow, our backs are against the wall".
Even though it's only the third game of the season, Judge is right for saying that, as one of the reasons the Yankees lost the division to the Red Sox last year, was because of the fact the Yankees couldn't put bad teams away.
Sunday, they have a chance to do that by putting the Orioles away and winning this series.
Thoughts:
Just one of those games where the other team was better than us. Love the fight in the 9th, but they did a good job of gutting it out.
Stats to know:
This is Brandon Hyde's first win as a manager, which is why the Orioles doused him in beer in the clubhouse, after the game.
One of the things you need to to win a game is good defense, which the Yankees didn't have on Saturday as they made 3 errors which came back to haunt them in the end.
Up next:
The two teams will conclude the season series tomorrow, as JA Happ will go for the Yankees, while the Orioles will send Dylan Bundy to the mound.
Game time is 1:05 PM from the Bronx.
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