Starlin Castro was too much for the O’s to handle on Monday afternoon as the New York Yankees walked away with a 7-4 win.
- New York Yankees: 7 (74-63)
- Baltimore Orioles: 4 (70-68)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD
The New York Yankees‘ offense kept their hot-streak alive in Monday’s series-opener against the Baltimore Orioles as seven unanswered runs led to a 7-4 victory at Camden Yards.
Baltimore, who entered play with the second-best record in the American League since Aug. 14 (12-7), struck first blood as Tim Beckham took Yankees’ starter Jordan Montgomery deep for a solo blast in the bottom of the first.
The 25-year-old lefty got out of further trouble in the inning but would get right back into it in the next frame. After Mark Trumbo reached on an error by shortstop Didi Gregorius, Chris Davis muscled a two-run home run out to left field, just over the reach of a leaping Brett Gardner to put the Orioles up 3-0.
New York, despite being 28-48 when their opponents scored first, would not go down quietly and pieced together a rally in the fourth.
Gregorius followed a leadoff single by second baseman Starlin Castro by lining a 1-2 slider from Bundy over the wall for a two-run shot and his 20th home run of the season.
Down by a score of 3-2, Aaron Judge followed the homer with a walk and after Greg Bird flew out, Todd Frazier put two runners on with one out thanks to a walk of his own. Two batters later, Jacoby Ellsbury drove in Judge to knot the game up at three apiece.
Fast-forward to the very next inning, Castro continued his tear since being reinstated from the disabled list with a go-ahead two-run shot to left field. It was the All-Star’s 13th of the season and gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead.
Montgomery’s day was done in the next half inning, giving him 4.2 innings of three-run (two earned) ball. While not overwhelmingly impressive, it did mark the 19th time in the Yankees’ last 22 games that their starting pitcher allowed three earned runs-or-fewer.
Chad Green relieved the southpaw and would turn in four strikeouts in 2.1 perfect innings. With two more runs of support coming the Yankees way in the form of a Gardner groundout and a Castro single, manager Joe Girardi handed the ball to David Robertson in the bottom of the eighth comfortably with a 7-3 lead.
Robertson, however, threw himself into a jam. The right-hander walked Tim Beckham and Manny Machado to kick-off his relief appearance but battled back to strike out Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones before getting Trey Mancini to ground out to end the threat.
Dellin Betances came on for the ninth and despite surrendering a solo home run to Welington Castillo, was able to finish off the O’s by a score of 7-4. That secured the Yankees’ fourth win in five days and helped them remain the lead dogs in the AL Wild Card race.
Labor Day Celebration:
With today’s win, the Yankees are now 38-28 on Labor Day in the Expansion Era (since 1969) and have won their second consecutive contest against the O’s on the holiday — last was an 8-6 win on 9/7/15 at Yankee Stadium.
Star Bright:
After going 3-for-5 on Monday, Starlin Castro is now is batting .359 (14-for-39) with six runs scored and nine RBI’s since returning from the disabled list on August 25.
Belly-To-Belly:
Didi Gregorius became the first shortstop in Yankees’ history to hit 20 home runs in back-to-back seasons with his two-run shot in the fourth inning. He joined Derek Jeter as the only two to hit 20 in multiple seasons, but the captain never did it back-to-back. He followed a 23-homer campaign in 2004 with 19 the following season.
Walking Into The Record Books:
After drawing a walk in the top of the second inning, Aaron Judge became just the third rookie in baseball history to hit 30 home runs, score 100 runs and walk 100 times — joining Al Rosen (1950) and Ted Williams (1939).
This Day In Yankees’ History:
On Sept. 4, 1993, Jim Abbott became just the third Yankees left-handed pitcher to throw a no-hitter, beating the Indians 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. It marked only the fourth no-hitter in Yankee Stadium history and was the club’s seventh overall.
What’s Next:
The Yankees and Orioles will go head-to-head yet again in the middle game of this three-game set on Tuesday night at Camden Yards.
CC Sabathia will make his 23rd start of the season coming off a win on Thursday against the Boston Red Sox. He turned in six innings of one-run ball while striking out six to turn in his third quality start in three turns since coming off the disabled list on August 19.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET and can be seen on the YES Network or MASN. You could also tune in on WFAN 660/101.9 FM or 105.7 The Fan.