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This game looked doomed, until it didn't. Is this real life?
The Orioles staged a late-inning comeback against the Yankees tonight, scoring four runs in the eighth inning thanks to home runs from Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones. The comeback gave the Orioles 5-3 win and pushed the Yankees even further down in the A.L. East standings.
O's starter Chris Tillman got off to a good start with six up, six down, but fell apart briefly in the third and fourth innings, allowing the Yankees to score twice. To start the third, Stephen Drew hit a fly ball to left field that Delmon Young raced a long way to get to, but as he slid he just couldn't make the catch. Drew ended up on second base, but not for long. Two batters later Tillman let Francisco Cervelli, of all people, get the better of him. Cervelli it a curve ball into the left field stand for a two-run home run. Tillman let the next batter single as well, but Derek Jeter did us all a favor by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Tillman played with fire in the fourth as well, allowing a single and a double to put runners on second and third with two outs, but a weak groundout by Drew kept the Yankees from scoring. After that he settled down and recorded three straight 1-2-3 innings to end his night. The final out of the seventh also came courtesy of Stephen Drew, who hit a nubber in front of home plate and then ran inside the base line, preventing Nick Hundley from making a good throw. The home plate umpire Gerry Davis correctly ruled him out, which of course didn't sit well with Joe Girardi. As the Orioles ran off the field and ESPN went to commercial, Girardi whined to Davis until he was tossed from the game. Because of course he did.
In Michael Pineda's first start back from the disabled list, he shut down the Orioles over five innings pitched. Pineda was working on pitch count of 85 in his return, but he needed only 67 to hold the Orioles to just one run and two hits. He retired the first 12 batters he faced before Nelson Cruz doubled to lead off the fifth inning. Cruz moved to third base on a bloop single to left field (he had to hold up to make sure it wasn't caught), then came in to score the Orioles' first run on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Flaherty.
When Pineda finished five innings with a 2-1 lead, Girardi went straight to shutdown reliever Dellin Betances. Betances normally doesn't come into the game until the seventh or eighth innings, but I imagine Girardi didn't want to risk his bullpen blowing the one-run lead (spoiler: they did). The first batter Betances faced, Hundley, singled, but after that Betances made the O's look silly. He struck out Nick Markakis, Chris Davis, and Adam Jones to end the inning, then quickly retired Nelson Cruz, Delmon Young, and Steve Pearce in the seventh. Time was running out for the Orioles and they looked hopeless against Betances. Until they didn't.
Despite the fact that Betances hasn't pitched more than two innings this season, the Yankees sent him back out to start the eighth inning. It didn't seem like a bad idea to me, from the Yankees' standpoint. He had looked totally dominant and the 7-8-9 batters were up to bat. He go Ryan Flaherty to pop up for the first out, but couldn't get the job done against Jonathan Schoop.
Schoop has struggled with the bat this season, but not against the Yankees. Going into this game, Schoop had gone 10-for-26 with 3 HR, 2 2B, and 10 RBI against the Yankees. He had smoked a ball in his previous at-bat that third baseman Chase Headley made a good play on, but this time he got the ball up. Betances missed his spot with a curve ball and Schoop made him pay with a home run to left field. It just barely got out of the part, but they all count the same. He tied the game and is now hitting .379 against the Yankees for the season. It was Schoop's second home run in as many games, the firs time he has done that in his young career.
Betances was pulled from the game at that point, one batter too late. Shawn Kelley replaced him, and it was on for the Orioles.
Hundley grounded out but a Markakis single and Davis walk on a 3-2 count brought up Adam Jones. Well, you know what happened then. Jones only needed one pitch to deposit the baseball into the Orioles' bullpen for an Earl Weaver Special that gave the Orioles a 5-2 lead. The crowd of over 37,000 erupted in cheers and as Jones crossed the plate, the Yankee fans in the stands began streaming for the exits. Thanks for coming, guys! See you next time!
Zach Britton made it interesting in the ninth inning as he struggled with his control. He walked one batter and was missing the strike zone all over the place. He gave up a double to Carlos Beltran that went past a diving Chris Davis at third base? Would Machado have made that play? We'll never know, but it doesn't matter. With one out and runners on second and third, the Yankees scored their third run of the game on a ground out. Stephen Drew then came up to bat, representing the tying run and the Yankees' last chance. He grounded out to Steve Pearce at first place, and the game was over! O's win! They completed the mini-sweep of the Yankees and pushed them eight games out of first place. Fantastic.
The Orioles will enjoy an off day tomorrow as they travel to Cleveland to take on the Indians in a weekend series.