Gray, Yankees flop in 7-5 loss to lowly Orioles
NEW YORK (AP) — Sonny Gray was chased in the third inning by the team with worst record in the majors, big league-loss leader Alex Cobb ended a nine-start winless streak and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-5 Wednesday.
Despite what appeared to be a midgame lecture in the dugout by third base coach Phil Nevin during a rain delay, New York (6838) dropped 5½ games behind Boston (75-34) heading into a four-game series at Fenway Park starting Thursday. This is the first time since the leagues split into divisions in 1969 that two teams in the same division began August with a winning percentage .640 or higher, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Gleyber Torres homered twice for the Yankees, a solo drive in the second and a three-run shot in the ninth.
On an afternoon that began with a partly sunny sky, Gray left under dark clouds just before a 39-minute rain delay. He had been 3-0 against the Orioles this year and had won three straight starts for the first time in a year, giving the Yankees hope he could become consistently reliable for the first time since they acquired him from Oakland last summer.
Instead, Gray (8-8) allowed seven runs, eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.56. He was booed as he walked off the mound and was replaced by Lance Lynn, who made his Yankees debut following his trade from Minnesota.
Lynn threw 71 pitches and allowed five hits over 4 1/3 scoreless innings, an appearance that rules him out for a start in the fourgame series in Boston.
Cobb (3-14) had been 0-7 since winning at the New York Mets on June 5, losing his last five outings. He breezed against the Yankees with an early 7-1 lead, allowing one run and seven hits in six innings and stopping Baltimore’s streak of 11 consecutive road losses.
Gray started with a 1-23 first inning against the Orioles, who traded six veterans for prospects in recent weeks, then allowed his first five batters to reach in the second on four hits and a walk. Baltimore took a 5-0 lead on Trey Mancini’s run-scoring single, Renato Nunez’s two-run double and Tim Beckham’s two-run single.