Yankees 5, Orioles 4: Six wins in a row

For the second straight day, the Yankees needed to come from behind to beat the Orioles. But, it didn't take until the ninth inning this time. Eduardo Nunez's sixth inning single gave the Yankees the lead for good, as they beat the Orioles 5-4.

Andy Pettitte got the start and got two quick outs on just three pitches in the top of the first. Adam Jones' two-out single kept the inning alive and put a runner on for Chris Davis. And Davis continued his destruction of baseballs by hitting a two run home run to straight away center. Off the bat, it looked like the ball might die in deep center field, but it kept going and eventually landed just past the center field wall to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.

The Orioles then added to their score in the second inning. With one out, Nolan Reimold singled on a soft grounder back to Pettitte. Andy's throw to first was off and went past Lyle Overbay. That allowed Reimold to advance to second. The error would immediately come back to bite the Yankees, when Alexi Casilla doubled. Reimold scored easily from second and made it 3-0.

But the Yankees got on the board themselves in the bottom of the second. Travis Hafner led off with a walk, and went to second on a single by Zoilo Almonte. Overbay then singled to load the bases with still nobody out. Luis Cruz blooped a single to score Hafner making it 3-1. Eduardo Nunez's return to the lineup began with a sacrifice fly which scored Almonte, but Overbay stupidly tried to tag up and go to third and was easily thrown out. Chris Stewart struck out to end the inning, but the Orioles' lead was down to 3-2.

In the top of the fourth, J.J. Hardy led off with a double. Reimold flied out, but it was deep enough to move Hardy to third. Alexi Casilla then grounded out to Robinson Cano, who kept Hardy at third. This brought Taylor Teagarden to the plate, who is not particularly good at hitting. But with a full count, he managed to single. That scored Hardy and the Oriole lead was back to two runs.

But in the fifth inning, the Yankees got rid of the deficit. Nunez led off the inning with a single. After Chris Stewart reached on a single as well, Gardner bunted to move them up a base. Ichiro Suzuki singled to score Nunez, making it 4-3. That was followed up by yet another single. Cano blooped one into left, which scored Stewart and tied the game.

In the bottom of the sixth, Overbay got his third hit of the day when he led off the inning with a single. Cruz bunted him over to second, bringing Nunez to the plate. He continued his nice day on his return to the lineup, by doubling home Overbay to give the Yankees their first lead of the day.

Andy was eventually pulled after two outs in the seventh with one on. He went 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits, striking out four. Andy struggled through a lot of the game, but he did come back and looked decent in the last couple innings he pitched. Shawn Kelley came in and struck out Manny Machado to end the seventh with the Yankees still in front.

After putting runners on and not bringing them home in the bottom of the seventh, the Yankees brought in David Robertson to pitch the top of the eighth. Adam Jones led off against him with a single. Robertson then struck out Davis, after a couple borderline strike three calls went in the Orioles' favor. He then went full Houdini by getting Brian Roberts to ground into a double play to end the inning.

After a scoreless bottom of the eighth, the Yankees turned it over to Mariano Rivera for the ninth. Mo got two quick ground outs against Hardy and Nate McLouth. Pinch hitter Ryan Flaherty kept the game alive by hitting a infield single. But Mo struck out Chris Dickerson to end the game and give the Yankees a 5-4 win.

The Yankees go for the sweep against the Orioles tomorrow at 1:05 eastern. Hiroki Kuroda will gets the start.

Box score. Graph Thingy.