COMEBACK KIDS
YANKS RETURN FOR HOME OPENER WITH NEEDED WIN / P. 56-57
BALTIMORE — What we know about the Yankees a week into the season is they avoided being swept by the Orioles this weekend heading into Monday’s home opener.
After losing by a run both Friday and Saturday, the Yankees scored four runs in the ninth Sunday to cop a 7-3 victory in front of 42,487 at Camden Yards, ahead of Monday’s home opener against the Rays in The Bronx. Aaron Judge homered for the first time in the young season and Ronald Torreyes went 3-for-5 and upped his team-leading RBI total to seven with a two-run triple in the sixth, when the Yankees cut the deficit to 3-2.
What we don’t know about Joe Girardi’s 2-4 club is how long it is going to be without catcher Gary Sanchez, whom the Yankees are counting on to anchor the lineup from the No. 2 spot. He joined shortstop Didi Gregorius, likely the Yankees’ best all-around player, on the disabled list Saturday with a strained right biceps muscle. First baseman Greg Bird sat out Sunday with a bad stomach and an improving bruised right ankle.
“It was nice to get a win and go home to Yankee Stadium to see our fans,’’ said Judge, who homered off right-hander Mychal Givens leading off the eighth to tie the score, 3-3. “It’s going to be packed. We have a great team here and we will be home for a little bit.’’
Great may not be the most accurate way to describe the Yankees’ roster, considering a bleeding rotation that CC Sabathia applied a tourniquet to Sunday and the injuries to Sanchez and Gregorius.
Yet, they are 2-4 instead of the 1-5 it looked like it would be when the Orioles led, 3-0, after five innings despite Birds starter Wade Miley walking seven in those five frames, but not giving up a run.
Sabathia walked two in the second inning, when he gave up two runs, and a passed ball charged to Austin Romine led to a third run in the fifth.
In between Sabathia escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third by feeding Trey Mancini a 6-4-3 double-play ball.
“That was a big point for me, being able to make that pitch after throwing all those pitches out of the zone [two walks in the second; one in the third] and getting the double play,’’ said Sabathia, who gave up three runs and six hits in six innings. That’s the longest outing by a Yankees starter this season.
Consecutive two-out singles by Judge and Romine brought Torreyes to the plate in the sixth against right-hander Tyler Wilson.
The 5-foot-8, 150-pound righthanded hitter drove a 1-1 pitch into the right-center-field gap for a two-run triple.
“It’s surprising. [Starlin] Castro told me about that,’’ Torreyes said of leading the club in RBIs from the ninth spot. “We were cracking jokes about thatthat.’’’’
Judge’s homer in the eighth tied the score and four runs against Darren O’Day in the ninth sent the Yankees home feeling better about themselves despite the cloud of uncertainty around Sanchez.
“Losing Gary was a tough blow for us ,’’ said Dell in Betances, who bounced back from a rough outing Saturday to work a clean eighth in which he fanned two and atoned for giving up an RBI single to Mark Trumbo in Saturday’s 5-4 loss.
How big of a loss will be determined by the news Sanchez receives Monday, when he is examined by team doctor Chris Ahmad.
A lineup that Torre yes is carrying doesn’t have enough muscle and the rotation beyond Sabathia (1.64 ERA in two starts) was awful the first time through.
Yet, Monday is t he home opener for a season that promised the future while attempting to win in the present, and the initial game in The Bronx always has a holiday feel to it.
“It’s New York, everybody will be happy for Opening Day in New York,’’ said Michael Pineda, who starts against the Rays. “I will be happy, too, on the mound.’’