The Orioles will take on the Yankees today with Alex Cobb taking the mound for the Orioles for the first time since last April.
Orioles News
Catcher Austin Wynns passed through waivers today and was assigned to Norfolk where he will share playing time with Bryan Holaday.
Lineup
- Austin Hays – CF
- Hanser Alberto – 2B
- Anthony Santander – RF
- Renato Nunez – DH
- Chance Sisco – C
- Chris Davis – 1B
- Mason Williams – LF
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Rio Ruiz – 3B
Starting Pitcher: Alex Cobb (0-0, 0.00)
1st Inning
In the first inning, Alex Cobb allowed a one-out single but struck out Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning. The Orioles put together a threat against Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka with back to back, two-out singles by Anthony Santander and Renato Nunez to put runners on 1st and 2nd. However, Tanaka settled down and struck out Chance Sisco to end the threat.
2nd Inning
The Yankees started off the inning with two singles, but Cobb got Miguel Andujar to pop up to short stop then got DJ LaMahieu to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Chris Davis reached on error by second baseman LaMahieu, but Mason Williams grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Iglesius made the final out of the inning.
3rd Inning
Despite an error by Mason Williams that allowed a runner to reach base, Cobb struck out two more keeping the Yankees off the board. The Orioles get the scoring started in bottom half of the inning when Rio Ruiz drew a leadoff walk. That brought up Austin Hays who had been hitless on the season, getting ahead in the count 2-0, Hay took a 73 MPH curveball and smashed it over the center field fence for a two-run homer. Tanaka settled down with no other damage but the Orioles had their first lead of the season at 2-0.
4th Inning
The Yankees put together a two-out rally to put runners on 2nd and 3rd after an Andujar double, but Cobb got LaMahieu to line out sharply to Hays in center field. The Orioles were back on to their scoring ways when Rio Ruiz smacked a two-out double down the right field line that Mason Williams was able to score on from 1st to make it 4-0.
5th Inning
Cobb has kept the Yankees off the board, but the Yankees had run his pitch count up to 74 pitches so manager Brandon Hyde started to warm up Miguel Castro in case Cobb gets in trouble with the heart of the order coming up. Sure enough, the Yankees were able to put runners on 1st and 3rd with a walk and a two-out single by Torres.
At 95 pitches, and one out away from being able to pick up the win, Hyde had a tough choice to make with Stanton coming to the plate. With Castro ready and watching, Hyde decides to let his veteran face Stanton. Stanton runs the count to 2-2 when on his 100th pitch, Cobb gets Stanton to swing and miss on knucklecurve to end the threat.
“Alex was outstanding today. His ability to bear down when the game was on the line just shows you what kind of competitor he is,” manager Hyde said.
Asked whether he considered taking Cobb out and bringing in Castro to face Stanton, Hyde said, “I thought about it hard, but I just felt like I owed it to Alex to let him see if he could get out of that.”
In the bottom of the inning, Tanaka got two quick outs before Nunez took a 1-0 fastball and deposited just to the left of the scoreboard in RF for his second home run of the year, pushing the Orioles lead to 5-0. That ended Tanaka’s outing as the Yankees brought in reliever Dan Otero. Sisco met him with a single but Davis flew out to end the inning.
6th Inning
Buoyed by his big strikeout, Hyde surprisingly let Cobb to go back out for the 6th.
“In was planning on taking him out, but Alex looked at me and told me he had one more inning in him.”
The Yankees though finally got on the board when Luke Voit smacked a one-out home to left center off Cobb to make it 5-1 but Cobb gout the last two outs, ending his game. Cobb allowed one run on seven hits and walk, while striking out six. Otero got the Orioles 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
7th Inning
With the the number 9 hitter Gio Urshela starting off the inning, and then the two left-handers at the top of the lineup, Hyde brings in Left -handed reliever Richard Bleier to pitch the 7th. Bleier does his job and gets three straight groundball outs. Though Hays led the inning off with a single, the Orioles went quietly afterwards.
8th Inning
With the heart of the Yankees order coming up, Hyde decides to go with his high leverage reliever Mychal Givens despite the 5-1 score. Givens was up to the task, striking out both Torres and Stanton before Sanchez worked him for walk. Givens then got Voit to fly out to RF. Though Davis reached on error with a bad throw by SS Torres, the Orioles were unable to score keeping the game 5-1.
9th Inning
Up by four, Shawn Armstrong is brought in to finish off the game. Arstrong gets the bottom of the Yankees order 1-2-3 and the Orioles get their first win of the year, 5-1 over the Yankees.
Orioles Player of the Game: Alex Cobb (6IP, 1ER, 6K, win)
Tony’s Take: I was really surprised Hyde pushed Cobb back out for the 6th when he was at 100 pitches, but perhaps he knows he can’t burn out his bullpen and needs his starters to get at least six innings if they can. Through two games, he’s already used all eight of his relievers so he may be sending a signal to his starters that they’re going to need to get through six before looking for help more times than not.
Through two games, Renato Nunez and Rio Riuz have really been money so far. Chris Davis and Jose Iglesias are still hitless.
