In spite of the Orioles amassing seventeen hits, Derek Jeter had a chance to win it in the ninth. Things didn't work out the way they should have.
The Yankees continued their final homestand of 2014 against the division champion Baltimore Orioles. Disappointing O's pickup Ubaldo Jimenez faced off against excellent Yankees' pickup Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy just didn't have it tonight though, and the Yankees couldn't make up for it.
The Orioles struck first in the top of the second. It was Yankees' castoff Kelly Johnson enacting his revenge by crushing a pitch by McCarthy into the right-center field seats for a solo home run and a 1-0 Orioles lead. The troubles continued for McCarthy as he allowed three more hits in the inning and the Orioles upped their advantage to two runs. In the fourth McCarthy would get burned by the homer again when with Nick Hundley aboard Nick Markakis smacked one a couple rows up in the seats in right to make it 4-0 for the Orioles.
The Yankees got on the board themselves in the fourth. After Chase Headley walked, Mark Teixeira doubled down the right field line. That set up Headley to score on a Chris Young groundout, and thus the shutout was avoided. The lead was bumped back up to four when McCarthy gave up another dinger, this time it was Nelson Cruz and his fortieth of the season. McCarthy would only make it into the sixth, allowing eleven hits and five runs over 5.1 innings.
Jimenez similarly could not make it out of the sixth as the Yankees rallied against him. Brian McCann singled and again Headley walked. Buck Showalter then tabbed Brad Brach to come in and put out the fire. He retired Teixieira on a groundout and walked Young. Stephen Drew surprised by not totally failing and hitting a sacrifice fly, but Ichiro Suzuki followed with a strikeout so the Yankees got no closer than 5-2. In the seventh Derek Jeter started a two-out rally with an infield hit and scored when Brian McCann hit yet another Yankee Stadium home run. The O's lead was down to one.
Zach Britton came on for the ninth and quickly dispatched of Suzuki and Pirela. The crowd got to see what they were hoping for as Gardner beat out an infield hit to bring up The Captain. It didn't end in storybook fashion though, as Britton easily took care of Jeter on three pitches. Hoping for a two-run dinger off of a guy throwing 97+ MPH heat was probably a longshot anyways.
The teams meet for game three of the series tomorrow at 1:05 PM. Bud Norris and Shane Greene are your probables.