Home › A-AMERICAN LEAGUE › Timely hits, stellar relief carry O’s over Yankees

Timely hits, stellar relief carry O’s over Yankees

By baseballtrashtalkin on June 29, 2013 • ( 0 )

McLouth breaks up no-no, homers; Gausman stellar out of ‘pen

By Derek Wetmore / MLB.com

Working out of the bullpen, Kevin Gausman shut down the Yankees for 4 1/3 innings to earn his first Major League win, and the Orioles beat the Yankees, 4-3, on Friday night at Camden Yards.

With the win, the second-place Orioles sit two games ahead of the third-place Yankees in the American League East.

Until late Thursday, Gausman appeared to be the favorite to start Friday’s contest, but manager Buck Showalter went with T.J. McFarland instead. McFarland left after 2 2/3 innings with the Orioles trailing, 3-0, but Gausman came on to stop the bleeding and keep the Yankees at bay long enough for the Orioles to mount a rally.

Yankees starter CC Sabathia had a no-hit bid through five innings, but Nate McLouth broke that up with a leadoff single in the sixth. He later scored during the three-run sixth, and he homered off Sabathia in the next inning to put the Orioles in front for good, 4-3.

The Yankees scored a first-inning run off McFarland, who was making the first start of his Major League career after spending the season in the bullpen. They also tagged him for two in the third inning before Showalter went to his bullpen early.

Gausman replaced McFarland and struck out David Adams to limit the third-inning damage. He appeared to be on cruise control for the next four innings, never allowing a batter to reach second base. He finished with four strikeouts and no walks, and kept the Yankees off the board long enough for the Orioles to tie it in the sixth.

Showalter said that pitching in relief might have had a different impact on Gausman, because he entered the game feeling he had nothing to lose.

“Sometimes, when you put young pitchers in a come-to-the-rescue mode, where there’s a little different culture that they come into in a game, experience tells you that you try to create a situation where they’ve got nothing to lose. And I think he really came in there letting it rip,” Showalter said.

Gausman was unaware after McLouth’s homer that he’d be in line for his first win if the score held.

FULL STORY AT MLB.COM

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles – June 28, 2013 | MLB.com BAL Recap.