GARY, GLEYBER BLAST ORIOLES
Yanks launch three HRs in comeback win over O’s
BALTIMORE — Injuries? No problem. A power outage? Pshaw, the Yankees will come out and provide more power. Rain delays? The Bombers are waterproof. A broken plane and a three-hour bus trip? These B-Bombers use it as a bonding experience. A six-run hole? Not a problem.
J.A. Happ dug the hole deep for the Yankees in the first four innings, but with two home runs from Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez’s ninth-inning three-run shot, the Bombers rallied for a 10-7 win over the Orioles Monday night at Camden Yards.
The Yankees (29-17) won their third game this season when trailing after eight innings and their 12th comeback win. They won their sixth straight over the Orioles (15-32) and remained undefeated in four games at Camden Yards this season.
“Every time we go out there, we go out to play really hard. To the best of our abilities. Even going back to last year, it’s just the kind of culture we have on this team,” Sanchez said. “We’re always going to battle. It doesn’t matsix ter if we’re down.”
The Yankees were down runs when Happ left the game after just 3.2 innings, but with Torres’ second homer of the night in the eighth, the Bombers had chipped away at the lead, trailing by just one run heading into the ninth.
“We never give up. That is the really good thing about our team. We always compete, we always fight,” said Torres, who has three multihome run games this season — all against the Orioles. “We need the opportunities to do the job and win it.” The hapless Orioles gave the Yankees the opportunity to do just that.
After Brett Gardner scored on Aaron Hicks’ sacrifice fly to left field, Pedro Severino left the door open for Sanchez’s blast. The Orioles catcher gave up on a high pop up that could have ended Luke Voit’s at-bat and the inning. Instead, the ball dropped about 10 feet behind him and Voit drew a walk.
Sanchez blasted his 13th homer of the season, his seventh against the Orioles. But even he was admiring Torres’ success against the Orioles.
The shortstop had his third multi-home run game of the season Monday night, homering in the second and the eighth innings. Of his 10 homers this season, eight have come off the Orioles. Of his five career multi-home run games, four have come against Baltimore.
So much of the battle for the Yankees this year, hasn’t been just the opponent on the field like the struggling Orioles. The Yankees have overcome a majorleague leading 17 injuries this season. They rallied after a power-outage in Tampa Bay and swept the Orioles at home last week after back-to-back rainouts. Sunday night, when their chartered plane was broken, they bused down here and maybe started a little slowly, but they did not let a little travel snafu derail them.
Nor would they let Happ’s struggles knock them off course Monday night.
The Orioles tagged him for nine hits, including two home runs over 3.2 innings of work. Hanser Alberto had three hits off Happ, including a lead-off homer in the Orioles two-run third inning. Renato Nunez also homered in the third.
The Orioles have scored 15 earned runs off him in just 17.1 innings pitched for a 7.79 ERA in four starts against them. In his six other starts this season, Happ has a 3.86 ERA, allowing 15 earned runs in 35 innings pitched.
Happ has struggled with the home run, a trend that started last season when he allowed a career-high 27. He has allowed 13 homers so far this season and his home run/9 inning rate is a major league leading 2.24.
The Orioles have taken advantage of that. They have hit seven home runs off him this season.
“We won in spite of me tonight, pretty much,” Happ said. “To battle back, the bullpen did an amazing job keeping us in that game and we fought back every inning. We had some really good ABs late in the game, too. Gary came up with the huge hit and Chappy closed it down.
“I heard the guys saying, ‘We’ve got a lot of game left,’ as I came out of the game,” Happ continued. “They never lost faith and I could sense that.”