The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Torres, Yanks sweep Orioles
Belts 3 more homers as win streak against O’s reaches 14
NEW YORK — Gleyber Torres hit three more home runs, including a pair of threerun drives in the night game that gave him 13 of New York’s record 59 long balls against Baltimore this season, and the Yankees completed a doubleheader sweep with an 118 win on Monday night that stretched their winning streak versus the Orioles to 14 games.
Gio Urshela had six hits in the twinbill, including a 461foot homer as the Yankees won the opener 85, and raised his average to .332 with 18 homers and 63 RBIs.
AL Eastleading New York hit seven homers and has five doubleheader sweeps to go along with one split. The Yankees improved to 152 against Baltimore with two games left and have won 12 of their past 14 overall.
Torres set a big league record with his fifth multihomer game against a team in a season, breaking a tie with Ralph Kiner (1947), Gus Zernial (1951) and Roy Sievers (1955). His 26 homers are two more than his total as a rookie last year, and the 13 against Baltimore matched Roger Maris in 1961 against Cleveland for the secondmost against one team in a season by a Yankees player, one behind Lou Gehrig’s total in 1936 versus Cleveland.
When Torres came to the plate with runners on first and second in the eighth, Baltimore intentionally walked him.
Didi Gregorius hit a
threerun homer in the first inning of the day game and had four RBIs. Urshela, Torres and Cameron Maybin added solo shots, all off Gabriel Ynoa (17).
Brett Gardner hit a threerun triple off Ty Blach (01) in the first inning of the night game and Mike Ford had a solo homer. Torres greeted Evan Phillips with a home run that opened an 83 lead in the fifth, then hit another long ball against Tom Eshelman in the sixth to make it 113.
James Paxton (86) started the opener and won a third straight start for the first time since he won seven in a row for Seattle from July 2 to Aug. 4, 2017. The injury decimated Yankees brought in some fresh arms in the night game, when 27yearold lefthander Joe Mantiply (10) got his first big league win in his Yankees debut and 28yearold righty Brady Lail followed with his big league debut after eight seasons in the minors.
Mantiply, purchased from Cincinnati last week for $1, relieved opener Chad Green with one out in the second and didn’t realize after two straight outs that the inning was over. He allowed three runs over three innings in his return to the major leagues from Tommy John surgery in March 2018. Mantiply’s only previous appearances were five relief outings for Detroit in September 2016.
Lail pitched 2 2/3 innings with his family looking on, giving up Hanser Alberto’s threerun homer.
Baltimore has allowed an ALrecord 248 homers, 10 from the season mark Cincinnati set in 2016. The Orioles are on pace for 109 defeats.
Urshela had an RBI double and was a triple shy of the cycle in the opener. He was purchased by the Yankees from Toronto on Aug. 4 last year for $1 — that’s not a typo — and entered the season with eight homers and 39 RBIs over 167 games with Cleveland and Toronto.
“I didn’t know that I had that power,” the 27yearold infielder said.
Gregorius has 35 RBIs in 47 games since returning from Tommy John surgery. He rolled over his left wrist going for a grounder on July 31, straining the area between his left ring finger and pinkie.
“Every time I take a swing, I do adjust the batting glove to make sure that everything stays in tight,” he said. “Ain’t much I can change about it. Pain tolerance, basically.”
STARTERS
Paxton (86) allowed three runs in six innings, including Renato Nunez’s sacrifice fly in the first. He has a 10.71 ERA in the opening inning and a 2.58 ERA over the rest of his outings.
CLOSERS
Aroldis Chapman (32) and Adam Ottovino (two) got saves.
STREAKS
New York had not beaten an opponent 13 straight times in a season since 1957 against the Kansas City Athletics. Baltimore had not lost 13 in a row to one team in a season since 1955 against Cleveland.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: 1B Luke Voit (out since July 30 with a core injury) sprinted and said he felt the best he has since May. He plans to hit off a tee Tuesday. Voit also said offseason surgery was a possibility. … LHP CC Sabathia (inflamed right knee) is to throw a second bullpen Tuesday and is on pace to start against Cleveland this weekend. … RHP Dellin Betances (lat) threw off a mound for the first time since June 5, a 20pitch bullpen that included 17 fastballs and three breaking balls. He plans to throw another bullpen Thursday. … Severino (lat) threw his second bullpen, three days after his first since spring training. He is to throw another bullpen Thursday, then may face batters on Sunday. “I thought he looked really good,” Boone said. … OF Aaron Hicks (strained right flexor) was to be evaluated Monday and could resume throwing and hitting this week.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Domingo German (152), tied for the bigleague lead in wins, starts Tuesday night against Baltimore LHP John Means (87).