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The stadium in Baltimore is no longer “Orioles Park at Camden Yards.” It is “Torres Park at Camden Yards,” or maybe “Torres Park at Sanchez Yards.”
Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez were at it again on Wednesday. Torres had yet another multi-home run game against the Orioles, while Sanchez crushed another monster shot in a 7-5 win over Baltimore. CC Sabathia wasn’t at his best, but Torres, Sanchez, and the rest of the Yankees’ lineup provided enough run support to get the Yankees over the line for a fourth-straight win.
The Yankees got things going in the second inning, thanks to the non-Torres/Sanchez people. Two batters after Brett Gardner had reached base with a double, Thairo Estrada hit his third home run of the year, giving the Yankees an early lead. They weren’t done there either. After Cameron Maybin drew a walk, DJ LeMahieu added another two-run homer. An inning later, we got the first of Torres’ home runs, as he took Dan Straily deep to add to the Yankees’ lead.
The Orioles then got on the board in the bottom of the third. With one out in the inning, Hanser Alberto brought home Stevie Wilkerson with a double down the line.
Then in the fourth, the other Oriole destroyer got in on the action. With two outs, Gary Sanchez crushed a 440 foot solo home run, getting that run right back.
In the bottom half of the inning, Torres showed that he is human against Baltimore. With one out and a runner on first, he fumbled with a grounder hit to him at short. Despite that, he still went to second to possibly start an inning-ending double play. However, he rushed the throw and it was wide of the mark. It managed to get all the way into foul territory, allowing the runner who started at first to come all the way around and score.
It didn’t take long for Torres to atone for that error. He was due up first in the fifth, and hit yet another home run. It was his fourth of the series, and 10th of the season against Baltimore.
The Orioles got in on the home-run derby themselves in the fifth. Richie Martin went yard to lead off the bottom of the fifth. A couple batters later, Renato Nunez added a two-run homer, taking a serious chunk out of the Yankees’ lead. It could have gotten worse, but a nice Brett Gardner throw got Pedro Severino out at the plate to end the inning.
Sabathia would not come out for the sixth inning, ending his day. He final line was five round allowed (four earned) on six hits and two walks. He also struck out seven in his five innings. He started off well, but just lost effectiveness around the fourth/fifth inning. When Sabathia has bad starts nowadays, that’s how they tend to go. It came out after the game, that something may be up with his knee.
Luckily for him, the bullpen was mostly good, allowing a combined four base runners across the final four innings. None of them crossed the plate, and that sealed a win for the Yankees in the game and the series.
Torres and Sanchez should savor tomorrow’s game, because they don’t get another shot at Baltimore for a while after that. That’ll be good news for Gary Thorne, however.