The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Bird hits grand slam, Yankees blank Orioles
BALTIMORE — Greg Bird hit his first career grand slam to back a dominating pitching performance by Sonny Gray, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-0 Wednesday night for a split of the four-game series.
Rookie Tyler Wade and Austin Romine also homered for the Yankees, and Giancarlo Stanton had four hits.
Facing Dylan Bundy (6-9) in the third inning, Bird launched a drive off the right-field foul pole to put New York up 5-0. It was the second night in a row he homered and had four RBIs.
Gray (6-7) allowed three hits, walked one and struck out eight over six innings. The right-hander had lost three straight starts, the last two in which he gave up a collective 11 runs over 4 1⁄ 3 innings.
Facing the last-place Orioles couldn’t have come at a better time for Gray. He’s 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA against Baltimore and 3-7 with a 6.32 ERA against everyone else.
The victory enabled New York to improve to 5-5 against the Orioles this season. In this series, Baltimore won 5-4 and 6-5, and the Yankees’ wins were by a total of 17 runs.
In the pivotal third inning, Stanton singled in a run before Bird ended a nine-pitch at-bat by pulling a curveball down the line.
Wade went deep in the sixth, and Romine connect- ed in the seventh. Wade’s long ball, his first in the big leagues, came on his 100th at-bat.
New York has 154 home runs this season, a major league record before the All-Star break. The Yankees have played 91 games; the 1999 Seattle Mariners hit 151 in 87 games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Manager Aaron Boone said LHP Aroldis Chapman (left knee) is “good to go.” Chapman has not pitched since leaving in the ninth inning Saturday at Toronto. … C Gary Sanchez, on the disabled list since June 25 with a right groin strain, ran and did catching work Wednesday. “I would say he’s getting closer,” Boone said.
Orioles: RHP Andrew Cashner was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a neck strain. He’s not expected to miss more than one start. … RHP Chris Tillman (back) is slated to conclude his rehab assignment Sunday with Triple-A Norfolk, although manager Buck Showalter floated the idea of starting him in place of Cashner vs. Texas on Sunday.
MOVING PIECES
Manny Machado insists he’s a shortstop. But if he gets traded by the Orioles to the Yankees before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline — one of the many rumors out there — New York could ask him to play 3B next to Didi Gregorius. So where does that leave Yankees 3B Miguel Andujar? “Those are things I have no control over,” Andujar said through an interpreter. “I don’t pay attention to that stuff.”