Who would have guessed that a Chris Young steal of home would be the difference? You can't predict baseb...ok, stop throwing tomatoes.
Much like most of the season, the Yankees offense went through a long stretch of doing nothing today. It's just that before they did that, they managed to pull a three-run inning out of who knows where. Shane Greene was impressive early, but the Orioles would mount a comeback. In the end, the three runs managed to hold up and the Yankees came away with a 3-2 win.
The Yankees more than doubled their offensive production from all of yesterday in the second inning. With one out in the second, Brian McCann hit a golf shot home run over the right field wall. Mark Teixeira followed that by drawing a walk, which put runners on for the best part of the lineup. Not really, but maybe. Anyway, Chris Young then doubled moving Teixeira to third. Antoan Richardson then added a single, scoring Teixeira. Zelous Wheeler came up next, but he struck out, bringing Jacoby Ellsbury to the plate. During Ellsbury's at bat, the Yankees ran the Vernon Wells play. Richardson attempted to steal second, drawing the throw. After the throw was made, Young ran home. Richardson beat the tag and no throw came home. Young scored and the Yankees now had a 3-0 lead.
Greene had gotten in some slight trouble in the second, but managed to wriggle out of it. He wasn't able to do the same in the third as the Orioles got on the board. Nick Markakis led off the inning with a single. Two batters later, he moved to second when Adam Jones grounded out. Nelson Cruz then singled to score Markakis and make it 3-1. Steve Pearce then added a double, putting two runs in scoring position. However, Greene would get J.J. Hardy to ground out to end the inning.
After that, Greene settled down and started to really look impressive. However, that one run would not be all the Orioles would get off him. In the sixth inning, Pearce hit a one-out, solo home run to cut the Yankees' lead to one run. And with his pitch count up to 112, that would be it for him. Greene went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out nine. Esmil Rogers came in for Greene and got two easy outs to finish the sixth.
Rogers came back out in the seventh, but after a walk to Ryan Flaherty and a sacrifice bunt by Caleb Joseph, he was taken out. Josh Outman came in and got two outs to strand the runner and keep the Yankees in front.
After the Yankees couldn't add to their lead in the top of the eighth, Shawn Kelley came in to pitch the bottom half. Jones led of the inning with a single. After that, Cruz came to the plate. Cruz took one deep to center field. With the ways things have been going for the Yankees, I think most of us figured it was going out. But the ball died right at the wall and Brett Gardner caught it for the first out. The next two outs were much quieter and the Yankees headed to the ninth with a lead.
David Robertson came in to try and get the save after the Yankees still couldn't add to their lead in the top of the ninth. The inning didn't get off to the best start when Jimmy Paredes dropped a single into center field. Flaherty then bunted, moving Paredes into scoring position. Delmon Young would then ground out, but Paredes moved to third and was now just 90 feet away from tying the game. Robertson would get Markakis to ground out to end the game. It got tense in the last couple innings, but the Yankees came away with a win. For at least one day, the rot has stopped.
The Yankees and Orioles will play again tomorrow at 8:05 eastern. The starting pitchers will be Hiroki Kuroda and Chris Tillman.