Yankees 3, Orioles 4: Offense shows up late, falls short

CC Sabathia's second start of the season was sort of similar to his first. He made some mistakes that came back to bite him, but it's hard to say that he pitched poorly. Sabathia went seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and walk, while striking out seven. The other similarity to his first start was that the offense didn't give him much help. Miguel Gonzalez pitched well for Baltimore, holding down the Yankees' lineup for much of the game. The offense nearly rallied in the eighth, but that fell short as the Orioles picked up a 4-3 win over the Yankees.

The Orioles got off to a quick start when Adam Jones hit a solo home run in the first inning to put the Orioles up 1-0. Two innings later, they added more. The third inning started with Sabathia walking Everth Cabrera on four pitches. Manny Machado followed that up with a bloop single that moved Cabrera to third. Jones then flew out to right field for the first out, but it was enough for Cabrera to tag up and score. Sabathia would get Steve Pearce to ground into a inning-ending double play, but it was now 2-0.

An inning later, the Orioles got another run. Delmon Young led off the inning with a single. After Young was able to go to second on a wild pitch, the next two hitters struck out. That left the inning up to Caleb Joseph. Joseph managed to get one through to right field for a single. Young just beat Carlos Beltran's throw home to make it 3-0.

The Yankees finally got on the board in the top of the sixth. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the inning with a single. After Chase Headley struck out, Ellsbury was able to move to second on a wild pitch during Beltran's at bat. Beltran would end up flying out, bringing Mark Teixeira to the plate. Teixeira doubled down the first base line, scoring Ellsbury and cutting the Orioles' lead to two runs.

However in the seventh, the Orioles took their lead back out to three runs. With Sabathia still pitching, Joseph reached with a triple after Ellsbury just missed a diving catch on a ball in the right-center. Sabathia came back and struck out Alejandro De Aza, bringing Cabrera up. Cabrera flew out to center, but it was enough for Joseph to tag up and score to make it 4-1.

The Yankees had struggled at the plate all day, but they started to rally in the eighth. Didi Gregorius reached after getting a single to drop near the line in left. De Aza then took away an extra-base hit away from Ellsbury with a running catch in left. Headley came up next and he singled, moving Gregorius to third. That brought up Beltran. Beltran nearly got a single through, but Jonathan Schoop made a nice stop at second. Beltran was out, but Gregorius scored to make it 4-2. That left it up to Teixeira. Teixeira hit one towards De Aza in left. Despite making the much harder play on Ellsbury's fly ball earlier in the inning, De Aza dropped this one. Headley scored, making it 4-3. McCann couldn't keep it going as he grounded out. However, the Yankees were now down just one run.

After a 1-2-3 inning from Chris Martin in the eighth, the Yankees had one last shot in the top of the ninth. They weren't able to do anything with that shot. They went down in order, with a pinch-hitting Alex Rodriguez making the final out. The Orioles took game two of the series with a 4-3 win.

The Yankees and Orioles will finish up their series tomorrow at 7:05 eastern. Nathan Eovaldi will get the start for the Yankees, while Bud Norris will pitch for Baltimore.

Box score.