Yankees Highlights: Gary Sanchez helps finish off domination of the Orioles

On Opening Day back in March, the Yankees beat the Orioles 7-2 in the Bronx. They lost the next two games by two runs each to drop the first series of the year. From there, they faced their AL East rivals 16 more times, and they beat their AL East rivals 16 more times. After taking heat in 2018 for going merely 12-7 against the historically inept Orioles, the Yankees have taken care of business against Baltimore in shockingly thorough fashion. Today’s 6-5 win came in just a bit closer than they may have wanted, but the Bombers closed out another sweep of the Orioles, this one of the four-game variety.

Winner of the Game

The most important hit of the game came in the first inning courtesy of Gary Sanchez, who pummeled a Dylan Bundy changeup straight out to Monument Park for a three-run bomb:

Sanchez reached base each time he came to plate, adding two singles and a walk, in his best game since returning from the IL.

Honorable mention: Mike Ford provided the winning margin with a big two-run, two-out single in the sixth.

Loser of the Game

J.A. Happ turned in the kind of start the Yankees should be happy with at this point (five innings, two runs), so Aaron Boone tried to bridge the middle innings with Luis Cessa. Cessa struggled, allowing three runs, three hits, and a walk in the seventh inning, including Renato Nunez’s fourth of five hits in the game, a two-run, two-out double that cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-4. Cessa has had his moments this season, but this wasn’t one of them.

Honorable mention: All of us that were hoping Gleyber Torres would torture Gary Thorne a little more with a couple of dingers. Instead, Torres doubled and scored in four at-bats.

Chart

FanGraphs