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On paper, this series figured to feature some real nail-biters. Instead the Yankees made the opener a laugher. This game had a little bit of everything, too. High-octane offense? Check. Quality pitching? You bet. Gary Sanchez continuing his historic run? Naturally. The Yankees topped the Orioles by a score of 14 -4.
For most of the season, the Yankees have had a nasty habit of letting bad pitchers beat them. Struggling starters such as Jorge De La Rosa and Jhoulys Chacin stifled the lineup. Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo, however, did not have such luck. He entered Friday night’s start with a 5.08 ERA and it only went up from there.
Gallardo struggled right out of the gate. He allowed a single to the white-hot Sanchez with two outs. Three pitches later, Mark Teixeira deposited a long home run into the bleachers to make it 2 - 1, Yankees. Gallardo retired Didi Gregorius to escape the inning, but it was a sign of things to come.
The Yankees offense erupted in the second inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Brett Gardner singled to drive in two runs. Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a single of his own to plate Ronald Torreyes, who reached earlier on an error. That brought up Sanchez, who naturally launched a double to drive home Gardner and Ellsbury. That made it 7 - 1, Yankees and it also knocked Gallardo out of the game.
Vance Worley came on to relieve Gallardo with only one out in the second. He promptly allowed an RBI single to Teixeira to extend the lead to 8 - 1. Worley worked his way out of trouble in the second, but the Yankees continued the beatdown. Chase Headley ripped a two-run home run in the fourth inning. After sitting on the bench for most of the West Coast trip, that home run was pretty significant for Headley.
Worley came back out for the fifth inning and he ran into the man responsible for every recent pitcher’s night terrors. With one on and one out, Sanchez stepped to the plate and did what he does best: hit home runs. He crushed his 10th home run of the season deep into left field. He almost looked embarrassed returning to the dugout. Sanchez has been in the big leagues for just over three weeks and he already has 10 home runs. Have mercy, Gary.
With a 12 - 3 lead, the Yankees figured that they could use a few more insurance runs. Aaron Judge led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to deep left-center off of Mike Wright. He hit it off of the end of the bat and it seemed like it had a chance to get out, too. Judge has some scary power. Torreyes followed with a double of his own to score Judge, and he advanced to third on the throw home. He came home on an RBI single by Brett Gardner, padding the Yankees lead at 14 - 3. Now that was a fun night for the offense.
On the pitching side of the game, Luis Cessa delivered another strong start. He held the power-heavy Orioles to just three runs over six innings. In fact, all of the O’s offense came on a pair of Manny Machado home runs. The Orioles’ third baseman launched a solo home run in the first inning and a two-run shot in the sixth. Machado has been known to go yard from time to time, so Cessa should get a pass there. Cessa threw hard and worked quickly, too. The Justin Wilson trade keeps looks better and better each passing day.
The Yankees bullpen picked up where Cessa left off. Blake Parker worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Ben Heller made his big league debut in a scoreless eight inning. His four-seam fastball is electric, with a ton of lateral movement. He looks like an uncomfortable at-bat. With an 11-run lead, Kirby Yates took over in the ninth. He allowed a run on a pair of hits, but closed out the game and secured the victory
Rookie right-handers Chad Green and Dylan Bundy will face off in game two of the series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm and can be seen on YES.