BALTIMORE – So far in this weird baseball season, there has been a four-month shutdown due to a pandemic and a labor dispute, followed by countless rule changes and an ever-changing schedule.
But one thing has remained the same: the Yankees don’t seem to lose to the Orioles.
After the Yankees squandered a five-run lead and watched the Orioles hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, Aaron Judge launched his own explosion to save the Yankees in an 8-6 victory.
It was the Yankees’ 18th straight win over the Orioles, and the 17th straight win at Camden Yards.
“Just get the job done,” Judge said of his approach during the at-bat.
When asked if he ever felt his team was out of the game, Aaron Boone said: “Absolutely not. Boys can hurt you from top to bottom. That was the case tonight.
No one but Judge, who hit a Cole Sulser 3-1 fastball to give the Yankees the lead again.
But it was not easy.
Luke Voit’s grand slam helped give the Yankees a 5-0 lead in the first, but JA Happ, who struggled with home runs a year ago, gave up a pair of two-run homers in his first outing of the season. Thursday.
The first was for Hanser Alberto in the first and Rio Ruiz hit another in the second.
The Yankees had a chance to increase their lead in the eighth when Giancarlo Stanton continued his steamy start with a one-out walk and Aaron Hicks broke a double. But Voit sniffed and Gary Sanchez, still looking for his first hit of the season, did the same to end the threat.
Still, after a blank tackle from Adam Ottavino in the fifth with storm clouds rolling in and two scoreless frames from Jonathan Loaisiga, the Yankees were five outs off another victory when Pedro Severino took Loaisiga in depth for a shot from two runs at the bottom of the eighth.
The Yankees didn’t follow for long.
Gio Urshela started the top of the ninth with a walk and moved to second on DJ LeMahieu’s single to the right.
It was then that Judge, who hit his first home run of the year on Wednesday, faced the outscored Sulser and crushed him.
Zack Britton went on to close it with a goalless ninth for his second save of the year in a game that was delayed by 94 minutes in the rain before the end of the sixth. Boone called the delay “not ideal” considering MLB protocols that aim to limit teams’ time in the park, but called the decision to continue the game “understandable.”
The Yankees have won three in a row, with two games not played against the Phillies over the weekend due to concerns about the coronavirus, as they head to Friday’s opening game against the Red Sox.
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Despite the uncertainty, Judge said the opening trip was “great.”
“We are playing baseball,” Judge said. “We are starting. A lot of things are happening in the world, but coming back and being able to play baseball is something special. ”
Boone called the start of the season “2020-ish” as it was full of postponements, rain delays and other unforeseen obstacles, but he was satisfied with the way it turned out.
“It was definitely unique,” Boone said of the trip. “But 4-1 to start the season, you take that. It wasn’t really great conditions. The guys had to make some adjustments.”
Including Happ, who was pitching on an eight-day layoff and probably would have taken longer in the game if the weather wasn’t about to change.
The 37-year-old man said he was “running around a bit, probably anxious after we got on the board.” [in the first]. “
But he thinks he’ll be able to fix the problems, and he knows he can afford to make some mistakes thanks to his own lineup.
“We are very confident in our offense, for sure,” said Happ.
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