Ryan Mountcastle and Jorge Mateo each drove in two runs and accounted for two of Baltimore’s three solo home runs as the Orioles defeated the visiting New York Yankees 7-2 on Thursday afternoon.
Ryan McKenna also homered for the Orioles, who won three of four games in the series. Jordan Westburg ripped a two-run triple.
Right-handed starter Kyle Bradish, who suffered a sprained UCL in mid-February at the beginning of spring training, made a strong season debut.
Bradish recorded the first two outs of the fifth inning before Juan Soto’s triple and Aaron Judge’s walk resulted in the end of his outing. Keegan Akin (1-0), the first of four Orioles relievers, worked 1 1/3 innings and allowed one run for the victory in what turned out to be a combined six-hitter.
Yankees starter Carlos Rodon (2-2) was charged with seven runs (six earned) across four-plus innings. He allowed eight hits and struck out six without a walk.
Gleyber Torres hit a solo homer in the sixth for the Yankees, marking his first long ball of the season.
New York’s Anthony Rizzo opened the scoring with a run-scoring single in the third inning.
The Orioles were shutout victims on three hits Wednesday night, but they belted three homers in a seven-batter stretch in the series finale.
Mountcastle’s fifth homer of the season came with two outs in the third inning. Mateo led off the fourth with his first home run of the year. Later in the fourth, McKenna went deep for the first time this season.
Baltimore stretched the lead to 7-1 in the fifth when Mountcastle drove in Adley Rutschman, Westburg provided his big triple and Mateo knocked him in with a sacrifice fly.
The Orioles didn’t produce a hit across their final three innings while facing Ron Marinaccio and Michael Tonkin.
By winning, the Orioles avoided back-to-back losses — something that has occurred only twice this season. Baltimore went 4-3 on a seven-game homestand.
–Field Level Media
