It had been so long since the Yankees had won a game, I had forgotten what it was like to write a positive recap. Oh, I’m kidding, it has only been four games since the last win – on Friday against the Red Sox. They now have 61 of them so it’s not like I’m unfamiliar with the emotions that follow a victory.
The Yankees got things started in the first inning – again. This time it was Curtis ‘I’m not a home run hitter’ Granderson who hit, you guessed it, a home run into the seats in right field putting the Yankees up 1-0 right away. It’s his 29th of the year. Nick Swisher followed with a double, Robison Cano hit a single and Andruw Jones hit a sacrifice fly to score Swisher to make it 2-0.
Baltimore answered with a one of their own in the bottom of the first. After Wilson Betemit single, Nick Markakis double. Endy Chavez grounded out to the newest Yankee Casey McGehee which scored Betemit.
In the bottom of the second, with runners on first and third, Derek Jeter smacked a single to right, scoring McGehee to give the Yanks a 3-1 lead. After Granderson struck out, Nick Swisher hit a single, scoring Jayson Nix to make it 4-1.
Phil Hughes had himself an interesting game. While watching him today, it seemed to me like he was a little out of whack and didn’t look comfortable. Yet, he always got an out when he needed it. Case in point: In the top of the third, Baltimore led off the inning with two straight singles by Markakis and J.J. Hardy. Hughes needed a double play and he got one, getting Chris Davis to hit a ball right to Cano who turned the double play with McGehee. Eric Davis ended the inning with a line out to Ichiro.
The Yanks broke the game way open in the bottom of the third with the big blow being a grand slam by Cano to make it 11-1. This is how they got there:
- Russell Martin walks
- McGehee walks
- Nix hit a ground rule double, scoring Martin to make it 5-1
- The Orioles mercifully take Zach Britton out and replace him with Kevin Gregg
- Jeter singles, again, McGehee and Nix score and it’s now 7-1
- Granderson singles
- Nick Swisher walks to load the bases
- Cano hits a 1-2 pitch into the right field seats to make it 11-1
By the way, six of those runs were scored with two outs. Does that sound familiar? If it doesn’t, you must have missed last night’s game when Ivan Nova had it happen to him – seven runs with two outs which led to Baltimore winning 11-5.
The scoring for both teams stalled until the seventh when Joba Chamberlain made his 2012 debut. Hardy greeted him rudely by taking his 0-1 pitch into the left field seats. He also gave up an RBI double to Endy Chavez in the eighth. Joba finished his day: 1.2 IP, 4H, 2R, 1BB and 0K. I’ll chalk it up to nerves.
The Yankees added a run in the bottom of the eighth on sacrifice fly by McGehee.
Hughes improved to 11-8 and lowered his ERA from 4.08 to 3.96. He finished with nine hits in six innings, gave up one run, walked two and struck out one.
The Orioles were looking for their first three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium since June 1986. They didn’t get it.
Ichiro extended his hitting streak to nine games, Jeter now has 276 games of three hits or more – he also collected three RBI and Nix finished the day 3-4 with two singles and a double.
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