Bullpen backs up Zimmermann

If the first ball off Giancarlo Stanton’s bat wouldn’t leave the yard — a 114-mph rocket that turned into a two-run single — the second never had a doubt. Amid a series in which the Yankees have complained about the new dimensions of Camden Yards, calling it a “create-a-park,” Stanton became the first visiting player at Camden Yards to scale the mountain.

He clubbed a solo homer in the fourth inning off Zimmermann to level the game at three, finding an ounce of redemption for his earlier blast that cascaded off the wall.

For as rocky as Zimmermann’s first inning was, allowing a walk and a double before Stanton’s long run-scoring single, the lefthander rebounded in the second. His fivepitch frame allowed him to push deeper in the outing, completing five innings while giving up seven hits and five runs.

“The offense really picked us up today,” Zimmermann said. “Everyone knows the streak their on, with how well they’re playing. Just to get the win today is the big thing.”

It wasn’t as efficient an outing as Zimmermann has produced lately, conceding hits to the first two batters he faced in the sixth before Hyde replaced him with right-hander Bryan Baker.

Those two inherited runners scored in the sixth, and then Lopez allowed one more in the ninth to force Santander’s heroics.

“I was in [the clubhouse] with the other relievers,” Zimmermann said, “and we definitely threw ourselves a little party in here. It was exciting. He was the guy. He was hot all day.”