OJTB: Yankees drop rain-shortened rubber game at Baltimore

Brett Gardner

A recap of Sunday night’s rubber game is followed by notes highlighting the set’s first two contests.

Impressive Gardner

At Camden Yards on Sunday night, the Baltimore Orioles won a rain-shortened game against the Yankees by 3-1. The game was called with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth inning following a two-hour rain delay. Baltimore (52-42) leads the third-place Yankees (47-47) by five games in the American League East.

RHP Kevin Gausman went the complete five innings for Baltimore. Gausman (4-2; 3.29 ERA) allowed only one run on four hits. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.

Starting for injured RHP Masahiro Tanaka, RHP Chase Whitley abruptly lost his effectiveness in the fourth inning. Whitley (4-3; 5.10 ERA) surrendered three runs in the inning and was yanked with two outs. Prior to Tanaka’s elbow injury, Whitley had been relegated to the bullpen because of three consecutive ineffective outings, where he allowed at least four runs in no more than four frames.

Both teams made their share of impressive defensive plays. Orioles’ RF Nick Markakis threw out 1B Mark Teixeira at second base to end the first inning, and secured a catch while falling to the ground amidst a gusty wind for the first out of the fifth. Teixeira contributed two solid plays for the Yankees in the bottom of the opening inning, corralling a sharp grounder for the first out, before scooping a low throw by SS Derek Jeter for the frame’s final out.

New York took a 1-0 lead when CF Brett Gardner led off the game with a homerun over the right-field scoreboard. The homer was the ninth of the season for Gardner, a new career high.

The Orioles rallied for three runs and a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning. After DH Nelson Cruz worked a leadoff walk, 1B Chris Davis lined a two-run homerun to left. SS J.J. Hardy followed with a double and was singled home with two outs by 2B Jonathan Schoop. Whitley was pulled following Schoop’s RBI in favor of LHP David Huff.

Notes:

1) A Yankees’ game was called after the minimum five-inning requirement for the first time since Sept. 18, 2003. That contest, also at Baltimore, was not resumed and ended in a 1-1 tie. The last time Yankees were involved in a shortened five-inning game that had a winner occurred on April 7, 1984, when the Texas Rangers defeated the visiting Yankees, 8-5.

Saturday: Yankees 3 Orioles 0

1) RHP Shane Greene, a 25-year old rookie, keyed the Yankees’ win. Making only his second major-league start, Greene (2-0; 1.32 ERA) fired 7.1 shutout innings over which he surrendered four hits and two walks while striking out nine. Greene solidly utilized all of his pitches—a low to mid 90s mph fastball, a curveball, and a slider—to hold the potent Baltimore offense off the board. Orioles’ DH Nelson Cruz whiffed three times against Greene on three different pitches.

Friday: Orioles 3 Yankees 2 (10 innings)

1) 2B Brian Roberts homered in his first plate appearance back in Baltimore in the second inning. Roberts played for the Orioles from 2001 through last season.

2) RHP Hiroki Kuroda pitched well, allowing two runs on three hits over seven innings. Kuroda abruptly lost his control in the fourth inning, however, as the Orioles plated a pair of runs to tie the game, 2-2. Kuroda uncorked two wild pitches while also hitting two batters in the frame.

3) The loss dropped the Yankees’ record in extra-inning road games this season to 5-2.

The Yankees will commence their post-All Star break schedule at home with a three-game interleague series against the Cincinnati Reds (51-44) beginning on Friday.