The Baltimore Orioles took two of three from their A.L. East rival the Yankees in New York’s last visit to Baltimore in the regular season as the Birds look to keep pace in their late season push for a playoff berth in October.
The Orioles are now (75-62) and are in third place two games behind Toronto (77-60) and one game behind Boston (76-61) in the A. L. East standings. They are tied with the Tigers for the final Wild Card spot.
After losing a road series to the Yankees and a home series to Toronto, the Birds rebounded, shutting out the Yankees in the first two games of the series, 8-0 and 2-0. It was their third straight shutout over New York.
Oriole’s starter Wade Miley struggled in the first inning giving up three runs and Baltimore never recovered, losing the final game of the series, 5-2.
In the first game of the series a six-run second inning broke the game open for the Birds. Homers by Pedro Alverez (20)Chris Davis (33) and Mark Trumbo (MLB-leading 41) were the highlights of the inning.
Alverez, Davis and Manny Machado each had two RBIs for Baltimore.
Meanwhile, starter Dylan Bundy struck out five, walked four and allowed two hits in 5.2 innings of work. The bullpen including Tommy Hunter who was a clubhouse favorite and is now back with Baltimore shut out the Yanks the rest of the way. Bundy improved to (8-5) and now has a 3.47 ERA.
In the middle game of the series Oriole’s starter Kevin Gausman pitched a 2-0 gem. He struck out eight, walked two and allowed two hits in six innings of work. The bullpen allowed two hits and closer Zach Britton came in to earn his AL-Best 40th save of the season.
Gausman won his fourth straight start, improving to (7-10) and now has a 3.58 ERA.
Adam Jones supplied the offense, hitting his 25th home run of the season in the fifth inning off Yankee loser CC Sabathia.
