Orioles allow five homers on the way to 7-5 loss to Yankees

When the Orioles send out Dan Straily to start a game, odds are they’re going to be playing from behind. The Yankees tagged Straily for six runs on only four innings, and the Orioles could not overcome the early deficit. Baltimore fell, 7-5, to New York for its fifth consecutive loss.

After a scoreless first, the Yankees struck first in the top of the second. Brett Gardner laced a one-out double to right field to get things started. Straily got Clint Frazier to pop out for the second out, but his luck ran out after that. Thairo Estrada blasted a two-run bomb to center field to get the Yankees on the board.

Cameron Maybin followed Estrada and eventually worked a walk. After Straily lost Maybin, DJ LeMahieu delivered the Yankees second, two-run home run of the inning. The first blast was a blow, but the second home run provided a “here we go again” type of feeling.

The third inning included maybe the least surprising result of the evening. Gleyber Torres, known Oriole killer, took Straily deep for his 11th home run of the evening. Torres turned a slider around and lifted it over the center field fence to give the Yankees a five run advantage.

Gary Sanchez hit the Yankees fourth home run of the game in the fourth inning. The four bombs allowed tied a career high for Straily, and fortunately for the Orioles, he didn’t have a chance to go for five.

Gabriel Ynoa replaced Straily in the fifth, and somehow, some way, Torres did it again. The 22-year-old hit his TENTH! home run against the Orioles, and provided New York some insurance that it did not appear it would need.

The Orioles trimmed a five-run lead to four with an RBI double by Hanser Alberto in the bottom of the third, and reduced the Yankees advantage to four again with a Joey Rickard fielder’s choice in the fourth.

Still, C.C. Sabathia had held Baltimore mostly in check through four innings, but that changed in the fifth. Richie Martin drove his first Major League home run into the front row of the left field seats to get the rally started.

Jonathan Villar followed with a double. Trey Mancini hit a 109 MPH rocket to third base that took a web gem from LeMahieu to prevent another run. The hard hit ball by Mancini represented some fatigue from Sabathia, and the Orioles were able to capitalize. Renato Nunez turned around the next pitch for a two-run home run that trimmed the lead to two.

Pedro Severino nearly took Sabathia deep on the first pitch of his at bat, but the ball snuck just left of the foul pole. Severino eventually doubled, and Joey Rickard stepped into the box representing the tying run. Rickard delivered with a ground ball to center, but Brett Gardner fired a strong throw to nail Severino at the plate and end the inning.

Unfortunately, the Orioles reward for drawing close was having to face the backend of the Yankees bullpen. Adam Ottavino shutdown the birds in the seventh, Chad Green worked a scoreless eighth, and Aroldis Chapman came in to close the door. Neither team scored after the home run by Nunez, and the Yankees escaped with another win.

Branden Kline delivered in a big way for the Orioles to keep the club close in the seventh. After Ynoa and Paul Fry allowed base runners, Kline entered with two runners in scoring position. The rookie struck out Frazier and Estrada to end the inning and keep Baltimore in the game.

Aside from Kline’s performance and Martin’s home run, the highlight of the night came in the bottom of the fourth. Somehow, Sabathia’s cheat sheet ended up stuck to the top of his bald, sweaty head. Sabathia looked around with a puzzled look on his face for several moments before eventually realizing where the chart disappeared too. Unfortunately, it was not a surprise to see that it takes such a small notecard to shutdown the Orioles lineup.

The Orioles will look to avoid a four game sweep tomorrow afternoon. If the Orioles can’t win a game, hopefully they at least manage to keep Torres in the yard.