What started off as a competitive game turned into a real ugly night late as the Orioles dropped their second game to the Yankees in their three game set, 11-4. The game displayed lots of power — six home runs, three by each team — however, the game was blown wide open as the Yankees jumped all over relievers Danys Baez and Jamie Walker in a six-run eighth inning.
One has to wonder if there’s something wrong physically or mechanically with Jeremy Guthrie. Our defacto ace has looked nothing like the pitcher we have seen in the last two years in the past month, and it may be a a cause for concern. Whether he’s just not hitting his spots, or what, the results have not been good. He took the loss on Wednesday, as he went seven innings and gave up five runs; however, despite his poor start — giving up four runs in the first two innings — he settled in and got his work in.
Much like his last start against New York, he got lit up early on, but got himself together; alas, the results so far have been disconcerting and are not helping matters with the pitching staff.
The Yankee offense coupled with their wind tunnel of ballpark broke open in the second inning as Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to give them a 4-0 lead.
Baltimore valiantly made a game of things as Ty Wigginton hit a two run shot in the fourth inning, Adam Jones hit a solo home run in the fifth, and rookie phenom Nolan Reimold hit his first major league homer (off Mariano Rivera in the 9th). They were no match for Phil Hughes as he pitched five innings and gave up three runs for the victory. Mariano Rivera got the save as he came into the game during the eighth inning before the breakout by New York.
