New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Bombers flex their muscles for sweep
BALTIMORE — Gary Sanchez and the New York Yankees spent much of Sunday, the entire weekend really, admiring balls flying out of Camden Yards.
Sanchez hit three of the Yankees’ seven home runs, their most on the road in more than a half-century, and New York routed Baltimore 15-3 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
“Opportunity knocks for some guys,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Other guys need to play well and step up their game. That’s nice to see.”
Clint Frazier homered twice and had four hits, a day after hitting a go-ahead three-run drive for his first big-league homer since July 2017. Austin Romine and Gleyber Torres also went deep for the Yankees, who got back above 500 at 5-4.
New York’s first 18 runs of the series scored on homers, and the Yankees hit 14 over the three games, a record in a three-game series at Baltimore. New York had not hit seven homers on the road since May 30, 1961, at Boston, when Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Moose Skowron hit two each, and Yogi Berra had one.
“Never too much for us,” Boone said about the homers.
New York has won eight straight games at Camden Yards, its longest winning streak against the Orioles on the road.
Sanchez had 33 homers and was an All-Star in 2017 but hit just 18 in an injury slowed 2018, when he was in a season-long slump. He set a career-best for homers, hitting two-run drives in the third off David Hess (1-1), in the seventh against Mike Wright and the eighth off Dan Straily, who made his Orioles debut. The 26-year-old Sanchez, who saw just nine pitches, has six homers this season and 11 multihomer games in his short career, the most for a big-leaguer in his first 274 games.
“I feel good at the plate right now — making adjustments, controlling the zone,” Sanchez said through a translator. “When things are going well, you’re going to feel more calm. And right now I’m hitting the ball well and playing nice defense.”