After two tough losses against the Detroit Tigers, Gleyber Torres and the Yankees powered their way from a 4-1 deficit for an 8-4 win to spoil the sold-out Baltimore Orioles’ home opener.
James Paxton took the mound to open the Yankees’ second series against the Orioles and had a shaky start from the get-go. After giving up a leadoff home run to Jonathan Villar, Paxton balked with the bases loaded to score Trey Mancini, and then a wild pitch brought in Renato Nunez to go down 3-0 in the first inning. Big Maple calmed down and came back to pitch well for the rest of the game, giving up one run in the fifth inning, while striking out nine batters and walking two after five and third innings.
Once Tommy Kahnle came in the sixth, he shut the door with no hits given up and struck out a batter in an inning and two-thirds of work. Kahnle looked much better than in his first appearance when he walked three batters in the March 31st game against the Orioles and came out of that appearance unscathed. Kahnle came up with a big double play to end the sixth after falling behind to the number nine hitter Richie Martin. Kahnle threw a clean seventh inning.
Zach Britton came in the eighth after Kahnle, giving up a hit, a walk and striking out one batter. Aroldis Chapman came in the ninth in a non-save situation, giving up one hit and striking one out to close out the game.
The Yankees themselves looked to the long ball to win this game, all of their runs coming from home runs.
Gleyber Torres led the way with four hits and four RBIs. Torres hit a solo home run leading off the third inning, hit a double in the fifth inning, hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, and hit a single in the eighth inning.
Gary Sanchez had a home run in the sixth inning to bring his total to three on the year. The Kraken responded to his throwing errors in previous games by picking off Rio Ruiz on first base to end the third inning.
Luke Voit hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to tack on some insurance runs. Voit had one hit in his previous 13 at-bats, breaking out of his mini-slump.
DJ LeMahieu brought his hit streak to three games, hitting a single in the sixth inning.
This was a very important comeback win for the Yankees, after scoring only two runs in the last two games. The Yankees had seen opportunities and had taken them and brought in runs with runners in scoring position.
The Yankees bounced back from the last two series losses and mashed the ball against the Orioles, scoring seven unanswered runs from the sixth inning on.
Featured Image: Ron Sachs - Consolidated News Photos
