Pinch- hit grand slam propels Yanks to ‘ W’

BALTIMORE — Stephen Drew hitting for Brett Gardner isn’t a move made by a smart manager these days. Yet, manager Joe Girardi was forced into it Monday night at Camden Yards against Orioles’ righthander Tommy Hunter. Gardner couldn’t bat because of stiffness in his right wrist after he was hit by a pitch in the first inning. Before being taken for an Xray that came back negative, Gardner watched Drew’s atbat from the thirdbase dugout railing.

What Gardner and the rest of the Yankees witnessed was Drew slugging a grand slam that carried the Yankees to a pulsating, 65 comefrombehind victory in front of an announced crowd of 21,633. As Drew circled the bases Gardner led the screaming in the Yankees’ dugout.

“Itwas a good situation and I tried not to do toomuch,’’ said Drew, who smoked a 31 pitch clocked at 95 mph. “I got ahead and put a good swing on it and it worked out for the best.’’

An inning before Girardi told Drew, who homered Sunday night against the Red Sox, therewas a chance he would hit for Gardner, who had informed the manager that if a big spot surfaced: “I might not be the right guy.’’

Girardi could have used lefthanded hitter Garrett Jones or switchhitter Chase Headley, but felt more comfortable with Drew who turned a 42 deficit into a 64 advantage.

“I am feeling a little more comfortable, not trying to put too much pressure on myself,’’ said Drew, who benefitted from having an entire spring training this year rather than none at all last season.

With Orioles starter WeiYin Chen gone after six innings, Hunter gave the Yankees life in the seventh by giving up a bloop single to Young and walking John Ryan Murphy. But Didi Gregorius flied to short center and pinchhitter Jones flied to left in front of Jacoby Ellsbury’s infield single to the right side.

Five pitches later Drew delivered off Hunter because Orioles manager Buck Showalter didn’t want to use lefty Brian Matusz.

“I’m trying to stay away from Brian. We’ve had a couple short starts andwe only had three pitchers we were going to use in the bullpen, so it’s tough. [ Girardi] also has another weapon over there in [ Chase] Headley, too,’’ said Showalter, who did use Matusz for the final two outs in the ninth.

After not being completely honest with Girardi after getting hit, Gardner said he told the manager the truth.

“I told Joe I might not be the best guy to drive in the run,’’ said Gardner, who wasn’t sure he would be ready to play Tuesday night. “Stephen Drew was the best guy for that job.’’

Itwas the second time inside a week that Gardner was hit in almost the same spot on the wrist and Girardi sounded as if the left fielder might not make the lineup Tuesday.

Drew’s blast made a winner out of Michael Pineda, who is 10 despite a pedestrian outing in which he gave up five runs and nine hits. He didn’t issue a walk and struck out nine. A tworun homer to Adam Jones in the sixth inning snapped a 22 tie.

Mark Teixeira and Chris Young also homered for the 34 Yankees who started a 10game road trip in exciting fashion and have won two straight for the first time in the very young season. It was Teixeira’s 366th career homer and tied him with Lance Berkman for fifth place on the alltime list for switch hitters.

Alex Rodriguez’s first start at third base this season was uneventful. He went 0for4 and handled two chances flawlessly.

Dellin Betances took over for Pineda in the seventh, allowed one of the two runners he inherited to score and thenworked out of a basesloaded situation by striking out Chris Davis with a 12 curveball. When Betances walked Travis Snider with one out in the eighth, Girardi called on former Oriole Andrew Miller for a five out save.

Miller responded by whiffing the final two batters in the eighth and posted his second save of the season and third of his career by working around hitting pinchhitter Delmon Young in the ninth.

“The big hit by Stephen carried the day for us,’’ Miller said.