YANKEES 14, ORIOLES 4:
Injured Jones removed in second; Yanks KO Gallardo in same inning
Yovani Gallardo pitched the shortest outing of his major league career, leaving after recording just four outs, and center fielder Adam Jones left the game with a left hamstring strain.
NEW YORK — There are two kinds of losses: the kind that count in the standings but are wiped from memory when the scoreboard resets the next day and the kind that leave holes big enough to sink a team’s season.
The Orioles left Yankee Stadium after Friday night’s 14-4 bashing at the hands of the newly christened “Baby Yankees” hoping to have suffered only the former. Center fielder Adam Jones’ second-inning departure with a left hamstring strain made the latter possible.
Either way, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a worse Orioles inning than Friday’s second. After third baseman Manny Machado and Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira (Mount Saint Joseph) traded home runs in a first inning that ended with a 2-1 Orioles deficit, the visitors threatened before a telling inning-ending sequence.
With two outs and runners on second and third for reserve catcher Francisco Pena, Nolan Reimold stepped on deck for Jones, who had started the game and taken one at-bat after being lifted for a pinch
hitter because of a hamstring cramp in the ninth inning of Thursday night’s loss to the Washington Nationals.
After Friday’s game, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said it was more of the same feeling for Jones, who aggravated the hamstring injury while running out a dribbler to third base on his first at-bat.
“Had a real good day today, felt good, was running around good,” Showalter said. “The first play, the swinging bunt, the field was wet early on. They put the water on it. He said he thought he’d be all right, went out to center field. I just didn’t like the way he was moving around, and I decided not to take a chance with it.”
Said Jones: “Didn’t get to first base in as ample time as I wanted. Came out of the game, so something must have not felt great. Took me out of my element. I ain’t got my legs as a center fielder, what more do you have?”
Nolan Reimold took Jones’ place in center field — and quickly contributed to Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo’s shortest career start. Gallardo imploded in a six-run second inning and was pulled after recording just one out, his struggles compounded by a line drive that Reimold dropped. By the end of the inning the Orioles trailed 8-1.
Jones said he put Reimold “in a peculiar situation.”
Showalter said he doesn’t expect Jones to go on the disabled list and that the Orioles will “continue to look from within” for a possible addition to the roster to spell Jones if he needs more than a few days off.
Their one true backup for him is rookie Joey Rickard, who hasn’t played since the Orioles last left here in late July because of a torn ligament in his right thumb. Reimold had 64 innings of experience in center field before Friday, and the only player on the 40-man roster with centerfield experience is Triple-A outfielder Dariel Alvarez.
If the Orioles want to add someone to the 40-man roster, they could choose Chris Dickerson, Julio Borbon, L.J. Hoes, Xavier Avery or Mike Yastrzemski. Each might be a defensive upgrade over Reimold, and might also approximate his .225 batting average.
That’s not to say Jones won’t bounce back quickly. He’s played through tweaks and twinges and been one of the more consistent batters all season, taking to the leadoff position quite well with a .301/.333/ .506 batting line with 19 home runs and 55 RBIs in 80 games entering Friday.
Overall, he’s batting .277 with a .773 OPS and 24 home runs this season, and has played the past few months at full strength.
He missed some time in the first week of the season with a back problem and scuffled out of the gate, but has been as durable as they come since. It wasn’t hard to believe Jones when he said emphatically Thursday night that he’d play Friday, and Showalter said he believed Jones would be politicking his way into the lineup today whether he felt ready or not.
“Let’s try and get this correct and make that big push,” Jones said. “At this point in time in the season, missing more than a few games would hurt this team.”
NOTE: The Orioles reinstated reliever T.J. McFarland from the 15-day DL before Friday’s game. The left-hander was placed on the DL on June 30 with left knee inflammation. To make room for McFarland, right-hander Logan Ondrusek was designated for assignment.