The New York Yankees snapped their six-game losing streak on Wednesday night thanks to solid pitching and a respectable offensive performance.
- New York Yankees: 7 (9-16)
- Baltimore Orioles: 0 (15-11)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
By Christian Kouroupakis
Hard to believe right? Well, believe it. The New York Yankees have won a ballgame.
New York got an incredible outing from CC Sabathia who gave them seven innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts compared to two walks.
The big left-hander earned his 99th win as a Yankee and lower his season ERA to 3.81 thanks to an enigmatic mix of his changeup, cutter, and a slider that made Baltimore Oriole hitters look foolish.
Aside from a solid pitching performance, the big story of the day was the offense. Led by a 3-for-3 day by Jacoby Ellsbury, the Yankees scored the most runs (seven) since April ninth when they scored eight runs in Detroit.
Brian McCann also provided with a 2-for-3 day with a run scored with three RBI. Two of which came on a two-run double in the top of the eighth that plated Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira to put the game out of reach. Teixeira also reached base four times.
Kirby Yates ran into some trouble in the eighth inning after loading the bases with one out, but Dellin Betances bailed him out with a strikeout and getting Mark Trumbo to pop out weakly to third base.
Chasen Shreve came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth and sent the O’s down in order to cap off the Yankees 7-0 victory.
Back in the win column.
FINAL: #Yankees 7, Orioles 0. #StartSpreadingTheNews pic.twitter.com/t9UCx4cvym— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 5, 2016
What A Relief:
Heading into this road trip, Betances what putting up video game numbers. In his first nine games, the 6’8″ setup man maintained a 0.00 ERA and an opposing batting average of .152 with 22 strikeouts.
On this road trip, opponents were hitting .364 against him and clobbered three home runs in 2.2 innings. Thankfully, Betances bounced back to prove that he’s better than that.
Coming into action with the bases loaded, he struck out the intimidating Chris Davis on a vintage curveball and then got Trumbo to pop out to Chase Headley to clean up the mess left by Yates.
It goes without saying, never bet against Dellin Betances no matter what.
With 1 out and the bases loaded in the 8th, @DBetances68 will come on to relieve @KauaisHaole. #LetsGoYankees
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 5, 2016
Heating Up:
A consistent Ellsbury is the type of guy every manager wants on their team. His ability to get one base and take an extra one on a consistent basis is more prominent than anything else in his arsenal.
In the last seven games, Ellsbury is batting .333 with three doubles and three runs scored. He also has six hits in his last 11 at-bats raising his batting average to .271 on this season.
Just to put that into perspective, he hit .235 in the month of April. Looks like Jacoby is Ells-burying it.
Jacoby Ellsbury laces a double to RF for the @Yankees! Watch now on YES & https://t.co/yfXiQpCqpc #YANKSonYEShttps://t.co/AxbYteq5s8
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 4, 2016
Double Trouble:
Part of the reason why Sabathia was so solid, was his ability to get ground balls in the most crucial situations.
In the bottom of the third with runners on first and second with one out, CC got Adam Jones to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
The very next inning, he got Nolan Reimold to ground into a 4-6-3 double play and then in the bottom of the sixth he got he red-hot Mark Trumbo to do the same thing.
The three double plays, AKA: a pitcher’s best friend, helped Sabathia keep his pitch count below 100 while still getting some much-needed length.
This Day In Yankees’ History:
On this day in 2008, Yankee legend Yogi Berra was inducted into the New Jersey Hall Of Fame.
Berra was inducted in along with Thomas Edison, Abert Einstein, Vince Lombardi, Harriet Tubman, Frank Sinatra and more. Talk about a legendary company.
On this day in 2008, we inducted Yogi Berra and 14 other legendary New Jerseyans! To learn more about all of our… https://t.co/IBmo99v7b5
— NJ Hall of Fame (@NJHallofFame) May 4, 2016
What’s Next:
The Yankees will finish off the series and cap off the nine-game road trip in a rubber game tomorrow night at Camden Yards.
Masahiro Tanaka (1-0, 2.87 ERA) vs Mike Wright (1-2, 5.40 ERA)
Not only has Tanaka been the greatest pitcher on the Yankees’ staff, but he’s channeling his inner ace in the process.
In his latest outing against the Boston Red Sox, Tanaka went 6.2 innings of two-run ball and struck out five compared to zero walks. His ERA is down to 2.87 and it was the 27-year old’s third straight quality start.
Tanaka is 1-1 with a 3.03 ERA against Baltimore and has a 10.0 K/9 against them.
Last Friday against the White Sox, Wright allowed two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out six over six innings, but came away with a no-decision.
Wright has one career start against the Bombers and it certainly was a forgettable one. In four innings of work, he surrendered five runs off six hits including an RBI double to Mark Teixeira.
Complete coverage will begin at six with first pitch being thrown at around 7:05 PM ET. The YES Network and MLB Network will be providing coverage.
NEXT: Top Prospects Will Not Be The Spark For The New York Yankees
