Yanks Route O's, 7-1, Make It 3 Straight

The New York Yankees dominated the AL east leading Baltimore Orioles tonight in game two of the four games set. Making his return to the rotation, Nathan Eovaldi was given the task of shutting down the daunting Orioles lineup tonight. Eovaldi was relegated to the bullpen after having a rough month of June as a starter, sporting an ERA of 9.20 during that rough stretch. Also coming out of the bullpen to start tonight's game, Vance Whirley got the call for Baltimore, falling to 2-1 and raising his ERA to 3.16, jumping up 29 points tonight as Starlin Castro and the Yankees recorded their third consecutive victory.

After both teams went scoreless in the first(23 straight games without scoring in the first for NY now), the Yankees kicked off the scoring as they took the lead in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Didi Gregorius worked a 10-pitch walk against Worley, scoring when the next batter Starlin Castro unloaded on a hanging sinker that ended up landing in the second deck in left, giving the Yanks an early two run advantage.

After a very strong first inning, Worley had control problems the rest of the way and got knocked out of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Rob Refsnyder began the frame with a walk, stealing second base during the next batter Gardner's at-bat. With one out, Jacoby Ellsbury lined a single up the middle that scored Refsnyder, making it a 3-0 game. After the RBI single, Worley was lifted for right-handed reliever Odrisamer Despaigne, who got out of the inning without any further damage.

After coasting through five, Nathan Eovaldi hit a wall as the Orioles forced him out in the top of the sixth. Ryan Flaherty drew a one-out walk, advancing to second when the next batter Adam Jones smacked a single to center. Joey Ricard then hit a line drive double to left that scored Flaherty and pulled the Birds to within two. Eovaldi was pulled after walking the next batter Manny Machado, departing with a final line of 5.1 innings pitched, allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out two. Nate was lifted for Anthony Swarzak, who brilliantly got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting the MLB homerun leader Mark Trumbo and the red hot Jonathan Schoop to pop out to end the frame, keeping it at a 3-1 score.

Starlin Castro's big night continued as he broke the game open for the Bombers in the bottom of the sixth. Brian McCann led off the frame with a walk and advanced to second base when two batters later Gregorius ripped a single, reaching base for the third time in the game. Castro then smoked a double into the right-center field gap that scored both runners, giving him four RBI on the night and extending their lead to 5-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, Alex Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk and was pinch ran for by Ronald Torreyes. Chase Headley then got in on the RBI parade, launching his ninth homerun of the season into the seats in right field, extending the lead to six.

Anthony Swarzak pitched exceptionally well as he shut down the O's offense and more importantly giving No Runs DMC the night off. Swarzak tossed 2.2 perfect innings against the offense that leads all of baseball in homeruns. Nick Goody came on in relief of Swarzak and sat down the Orioles in order, tying a bow on a huge win for New York tonight.

Here's to hoping they can keep the momentum going tomorrow night in game three, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 PM ET.