Sanchez Makes MLB History, Yanks Spank O's, 13-5

For the second straight game and for the first time since last August, the New York Yankees put up double digit runs on the Baltimore Orioles on their way to their convincing game-two series victory. Getting the start for New York was rookie right-hander Chad Green, who struggled with command all afternoon, and as a result, did not factor into the final decision as he was unable to record the necessary five innings to qualify. Taking the ball and the loss for the Birds was Dylan Bundy, falling to 7-5 while raising his ERA to 3.47 as he got hit early and often by the white-hot Yankee offense on a sun-drenched afternoon in the Bronx.

Chad Green made it tough on himself as he got into some trouble in the top of the first before showing some real moxie to get out of a bases-loaded jam. After striking out Manny Machado to begin the game, Hyun Soo Kim beat the shift with a seeing-eye single, Mark Trumbo walked and Chris Davis was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But, Green righted himself as he worked back-to-back strikeouts of Jonathan Schoop and Pedro Alvarez to escape the first inning threat.

Bundy, too, would work himself into some first inning trouble but would suffer a different fate as the Yankees put the first run of the game on the board. Jacoby Ellsbury and Gary Sanchez worked consecutive one-out walks. Mark Teixeira then plated Ellsbury from second when he ripped a double off the wall in right, giving the Yankees a first inning one run lead. 

The Orioles waited an inning but ended up taking the lead in the top of the third. After Mark Trumbo worked his second walk of the day, Chris Davis unloaded on a Green fastball to the tune of a 420+ foot blast to straight away centerfield that put Baltimore on top 2-1.

Fortunately, the Bonbers wasted no time getting back into the game as they re-took the lead in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, they tied the game with three straight singles by Teixeira, Gregorius, and Castro, with the latter scoring Tex from second and advancing Gregorius to third. During the ensuing McCann at-bat, both Castro and Gregorius attempted to execute a double steel, but Didi was called out at home, seemingly ending the inning. Manager Joe Girardi quickly went to the review phone and then to the umpire to challenge the call on the field. Joe did so successfully as the call was overturned, making the score 3-2 and forcing all of the Orioles defenders to report back to their respective positions. Brian McCann followed the turn of events with a line drive double to left that got passed the outfielder Kim's reach, scoring Castro and extending their lead to two. 

Gary Sanchez's miracle-season continued in the bottom of the fourth as he became the fastest player to hit 11 homeruns in MLB history, launching a solo shot to left in just the 21st game of his career. Every at bat by the superstar in the making Sanchez is absolutely must-see TV, proving it once again this afternoon. 

In the top of the fifth, the Orioles used the longball to get themselves back into the game while chasing young Green from it. Trumbo and Davis went back to back to pull the O's to within one. Green then served up a very deep fly-out that went to the warning track in left off the bat of Jonathan Schoop, forcing Girardi to take the rookie out of the game. Green was pulled for Tommy Layne, leaving with a pretty tough final line of 4.2 innings pitched, allowing four runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out four. Layne proceeded to get Pedro Alvarez to ground out to second, preventing any further damage. 

The homerun derby continued in the bottom of the fifth as New York really broke the game wide open. Recently off the DL, T.J. McFarland replaced Bundy to start the inning, immediately drilling Gregorius to begin the frame. The next batter Starlin Castro obliterated a McFarland fastball deep into the seats in left, widening the gap back up to three. McCann followed with a walk and scored when Aaron Hicks joined the longball fest, blasting the second no-out, two-run shot of the inning into the seats in right that opened it up to a 9-4 game.

The Pinstriper offensive onslaught continued in the bottom of the sixth as the Yanks scored double digits in the run column for the second straight game. Didi led off with a walk off of O's reliever Michael Givens, advancing to second on Castro's third hit of the afternoon. Brian McCann then recorded his 50th RBI of the season by smacking a single into left that scored Gregorius and extended the Bomber lead to six. The next batter Aaron Hicks followed with an RBI single of his own, a line drive to center that scored Castro and made it a seven-run ballgame. After Givens drilled Ronald Torreyes to load the bases, manager Buck Showalter pulled Givens for Donnie Hart. The first batter Hart faced was Brett Gardner, who managed to squibb an infield single in front of Hart that allowed McCann to score, making the score 12-4 New York.

A combination of Warren, Layne and Clippard held the Orioles scoreless and got the Yankees into the ninth. After Gregorius added another hit and RBI in the bottom of the eighth to make it 13-4, Kirby Yates allowed a leadoff double too Machado, who scored when Kim ripped a single up the middle that glanced off of Castro's glove, leading to a 13-5 score. Yates then proceeded to retire Ryan Flaherty, Steve Pearce and Jonathan Schoop in order to lock down both the win for the game and the series, pulling the Yanks to within 2 1/2 games of the second wild-card spot.

Break out the brooms tomorrow as the boys in pinstripes look to lock down the weekend series sweep of the Birds from Baltimore, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 PM/EST.