Bronx, N.Y., May 7, 2015; Yankees 4, Orioles 3 — The fact that the Yankees outhit the visiting Baltimore Orioles 11-6 was an outlier — don’t be fooled; the teams played essentially the same game. The vaunted Yankee pen had to throw one more inning than the relievers from Baltimore, but both bullpens held the opposition scoreless.
The similarity was easy to see, as both teams scored in the first, third, and fifth frames, and not again. Starters Chris Tillman and Nathan Eovaldi each threw 5 2/3 innings. Both righties, they matched one another with three strike outs and three walks. Tillman’s 110 tosses were nine more than Nate’s, but the strikes/balls ratio (64/46, 61/40) was almost identical. They both had trouble throwing first-pitch strikes — 15 of 28 for Chris, 13 of 25 for Eovaldi.
To a great extent, although hits were the one place where the visitors lagged behind, it was a strength too. They were clearly more efficient, as they used their first four to score all three runs: singleton one-out homers in the first and the third, back-to-back doubles leading off the fifth. The Yanks squandered hits in the second and fourth, lost one running the bases in the first, and another to a double play in the third.
But Nate walks off with a win, while Chris will leave New York with a loss. And if you want to pick a reason, I’ve got plenty of them. The home team won this one because Alex Rodriguez continued his glorious return, and on a night where Delmon Young stole a homer from him in the first — a sac fly that plated the first Yankee run — the veteran Yankee DH hit a longer drive to a deeper part of the park to give his team a 3-2 lead in the fifth. It was his 661st, moving him past Willie Mays into fourth place on the all-time home run list, an accomplishment even the conflicted Yankees acknowledged on the scoreboard, as most assumed they would not. But whether or not the Bronx scoreboard shared the news, the 39,816 fans in the stands insisted on it, cheering loudly on their feet until Alex answered with a quick curtain call.
On one hand, two teams met in the Bronx and played very similar games, and the home team won because they scored two runs in the first, the only time that would happen. But the Yankee lineup comprised two teams too, and the play of these two could hardly have been more different. Hitters one through four collected eight of the hits, two apiece; drove in all four runs; and scored all four as well. Batters five through nine collected three hits in 19 at bats, and struck out five times.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner continued to set it all up, and Mark Teixeira matched A-rod with two rbi’s; he even drove an opposite-field out in the seventh that almost matched Alex’s blast in length, after driving in the actual winner with a double in the fifth.
Nate Eovaldi is very fortunate to earn a win on a night he was not sharp. He’ll need to pitch better, or get some help from the bottom of the order next time.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!