Yankees 3, Orioles 11: That went poorly

After losing a lead yesterday, the Yankees never got that option today. The Orioles blew the game open in the first inning and never looked back. Baltimore came away with a 11-3 win on Saturday.

The Yankees did however come close to taking a lead in the first inning. After getting to two outs quickly, Robinson Cano singled on a ball that hit off Chris Davis' glove and went into left field. Vernon Wells came up and he singled on a slow grounder that rolled into left. Ichiro Suzuki was next and he too singled by hitting a ground ball that bounced straight up in the air. By the time it came down, pitcher Zach Britton had no other play but to go to first, but Ichiro was safe. Next hitter Zoilo Almonte hit one deep into right field, but Nick Markakis made the catch to end that threat. Stranding those runners came back to haunt them in a big way in the bottom half of the inning.

With David Phelps on the mound, Nate McLouth led off for the Orioles. He popped one into foul territory on which David Adams made a nice sliding catch for the first out if the inning. After that, things went downhill. Manny Machado hit an infield single on a grounder that Jayson Nix got to, but couldn't make a play on. Nick Markakis then singled into left field, which put runners at first and second. Adam Jones came up and he singled too, which scored Machado and made it 1-0. The very next batter, Chris Davis, smashed a three-run home run over the left center field wall, making it 4-0 Orioles. Matt Weiters then popped up for the second out. But Phelps still wasn't close to being out of the inning, as JJ Hardy singled next. Former Yankee Chris Dickerson then doubled, keeping the inning alive, still. Phelps finally got out of it, when he struck out Ryan Flaherty. But after nine batters, six hits, four runs, and 30 pitches in the first inning, the Yankees were already in a big hole.

It then got way worse in the third inning. With one out, Davis drew a walk against Phelps. After Weiters singled, Hardy also drew a walk, which loaded the bases. Dickerson singled a grounder that just got past Nix. Two runs scored increasing the Orioles lead to six runs. To cap off the inning, Flaherty smashed a home run to right field. That made it 9-0 Orioles. That was the end of Phelps' night and Ivan Nova was brought in. Nova got the last two outs to finally end that dumpsterfire.

Phelps ended his day having pitched 2.1 innings, allowing nine runs on nine hits and two walks.

The Yankees eventually got on the board in the top of the sixth inning. With Britton still pitching, Nix drew a lead-off walk against the Orioles' starter. Cano then singled. After a Wells flyout, Ichiro also drew a walk to load the bases. Almonte again hit a fly out with the bases loaded, but this time with just one out, a run was able to score and the Yankees were on the board. With two on, David Adams kept the inning alive and loaded the bases when he drew a walk. This brought Lyle Overbay to the plate. Overbay grounded into what should've been the last out, but Chris Davis booted the ball, allowing Overbay to be safe and Cano to score. This cut the Orioles lead to 9-2. Travis Hafner was brought in to pinch hit for Austin Romine against reliever Jair Jurrjens. Hafner hit one towards the wall in left, but the ball died short of the warning track and McLouth caught it for the third out.

But the Orioles added those two runs right back in the bottom of the sixth. With Nova still on the mound and one out in the inning, Nick Markakis singled. Two batters later, Davis hit another home run, extending the Baltimore lead right back to nine runs.

Despite that, Nova did an okay job in relief of Phelps. He went 5.2 innings allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out four.

The Yankees offense did threaten a couple other times, but never managed to push another run across after the two they scored in the sixth. Until the ninth inning. After Britton, Jurrjens came in and held the Yankees down for 2.1 innings. Pedro Strop was then brought in to pitch the ninth for Baltimore. Chris Stewart led off the inning with a double, and came around to score when Gardner doubled. That made it 11-3 Orioles. Strop managed to get the next three Yankees out relatively easily, and finished off a 11-3 win.

The Yankees and Orioles finish off their series tomorrow at 8:05 eastern. Hiroki Kuroda will get the start.

Box score. Graph thingy. (if you dare)