O’s shut down Yankee bats,
NEW YORK — Kevin Gausman and the Baltimore Orioles quickly put two blowout losses at Yankee Stadium in the past.
A good pitching performance can do that, every time.
Gausman tamed the torrid New York hitters, Mark Trumbo lined his Major League Baseball-leading 40th home run and Steve Pearce also connected as Baltimore averted a bruising sweep with a 5-0 win Sunday in American League baseball play.
The Orioles had been getting battered by the Yankees this weekend, outscored 27-9. “Obviously, the first two games didn’t go the way we wanted,” Gausman said.
Baltimore bounced back in the matchup between AL East playoff contenders, halting its three-game skid and ending the Yankees’ win string at four.
The O’s sit three games back of Toronto in the AL East and currently hold down the second wild-card position.
Gausman (6-10) threw seven innings, giving up seven hits. He struck out nine and walked none to win his third start in a row. “I was just trying to go out there and be a stopper today,” he said.
Gausman posted a rare road victory after going 0-16 in his previous 25 starts away from Camden Yards. He’d thrown well several times, but had nothing to show for it. “I’m pretty relieved. It’s been kind of annoying here,” he said.
Gausman, newly signed Tommy Hunter and closer Zach Britton handed New York its first home shutout in more than a year.
Yankees rookie sensation Gary Sanchez doubled and singled. He had homered in three straight games and is hitting .405 in 22 games this year.
“If someone says you’re going to win a series against Baltimore, I think you’re going to be pretty positive,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “But when you win the first two, sometimes guys can get down a little bit.”
Gausman’s last pitch resulted in a grounder that third baseman Manny Machado backhanded and threw from his knees from foul ground for the out. This was Gausman’s fourth fine start against the Yankees this season and he finally wound up with a win, permitting only three earned runs in 27 2/3 innings during that span.
CC Sabathia (8-11) shut out the Orioles on two singles until Pearce led off the sixth with his 12th home run.
Earlier in the game, Pearce had been having fun with the fans in right field, tossing them balls after warm-ups between innings — he provided another souvenir with his drive to deep left.
Like the rest of the Orioles, he didn’t dwell on the previous two losses.
“We flushed them. We weren’t looking back,” he said.
Pearce greeted reliever Adam Warren with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the seventh for a 3-0 lead.
Batting leadoff for the first time in his 10-season career, Pearce had three hits. He also made a strong throw from right field to cut down Sanchez trying to reach third.
Trumbo connected in the eighth for a two-run shot off Ben Heller. The slugger reached 40 home runs for the first time in his career and boosted Baltimore’s homer total to 204, most in the majors.
“It’s hard to have a goal like that going into the season,” Trumbo said. “It’s such a lofty number.”
Hunter, cut by Cleveland on Thursday, officially signed with the Orioles before the game and worked the eighth. He pitched parts of the last five seasons with Baltimore.