Baby Bombers will have some growing pains

BALTIMORE — Patience is the ultimate virtue for the Yankees.

These are the growing pains you knew were going to come in this season of transition as the Yankees blew a four-run lead and fell to the Orioles, 6-5, on Friday night at Camden Yards.

It was cold, it was ugly. And there is lots of learning ahead.

With 27 world championships in their back pocket, this should be house-money simple. Remember, we are still at the part of the season in which players are wearing ski caps during batting practice.

The No. 2 hitter, Gary Sanchez, went into Friday’s freezer batting .071. Greg Bird, the No. 3 hitter, was perched at .083 and Aaron Judge, the third member of the Yankees’ trio of Baby Bombers, was hitting .167 in the eighth spot.

Sanchez delivered like it was the heat of August last season in the fifth inning, lifting a moon-shot two-run home run to put the Yankees ahead 5-1, but then everything fell apart.

Young Luis Severino couldn’t hold a big lead. Orioles star Manny Machado blasted a three-run home run to get the Orioles back into the game in the fifth, 5-4, and a throwing error by Chase Headley in the seventh helped Baltimore take a 6-5 lead when Seth Smith lifted a two-run home run to right off Tyler Clippard.

On that Headley error, Bird whiffed on the one-hop throw. It was a difficult night for Bird, who struck out three times. The lefty is hitting .063 and has seven strikeouts in 15 at-bats in this young season.

“It looks like he is in-between a little bit to me,’’ Joe Girardi said of Bird’s at-bats. “We’ll get him on track.’’

Said Bird of the snail start: “I just have to work through it and get better, plain and simple. I think I’m just a little late. I feel like I’m swinging at what I want to swing at. I’m just not hitting what I want to swing at. I just have to do a better job.’’

As for the Headley error that got by Bird, Girardi noted, “Sometimes it’s going to get on you quicker than you think it is and that’s what it looked like to me.’’

Said Bird: “It’s a play I want to make, I want to make it for him. It’s a tough one, but I feel I can make it.’’

Judge struck out twice as his average dropped to .133.

Sanchez’ home run traveled 426 feet according to Statcast, with a 112mph exit velocity.

“I hope I can keep on going,’’ Sanchez said of his first home run of the season.

I am not sold on Sanchez batting second and Bird third. The prevailing thought these days is you want to have your best hitter in that two spot.

That makes sense — in Little League.

As for Bird in that three spot, Gi- rardi noted: “He’s between a couple of good hitters, so it’s way too early to start thinking about [changing the lineup]. Birdie has a pretty good track record, but it was two years ago and he is coming off an injury. He had a great spring, Judgie had a really good spring. Sometimes you’re due to go through a bad week and you don’t make too much of it.’’

This is a game in which patience must be used on a daily basis.

As a matter of fact, it was 25 years ago that a young skipper took over managing the Yankees, and he did OK for himself: current Orioles manager Buck Showalter.

The worst thing the Yankees can do is panic with their Baby Bombers.

“I think you need to continue to show confidence in them because I do believe in them,’’ Girardi said. “I think these are talented young players that can really make a difference for this team.’’

The Baby Bombers need time, even if they fail. They need the at-bats now to grow as hitters.

The Young Yankees must make adjustments. They can’t do that at Triple-A. They need to figure it out up here. Patience is needed. It will pay off in the long run.