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Orioles drop Yankees, inch closer to division lead

Sep 1, 2012 - 5:47 AM Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Mark Reynolds hit a pair of homers and Miguel Gonzalez tossed seven scoreless innings, as the Baltimore Orioles handled the New York Yankees, 6-1, in the opener of a key three-game series.

J.J. Hardy hit a solo homer for the Orioles, who now trail New York by just two games in the AL East. Nick Markakis and Chris Davis added an RBI apiece.

Gonzalez (6-3) gave up four hits while striking out nine and walking one for Baltimore, which has won six of seven.

"I like pitching against a good, aggressive team I guess," Gonzalez said. "Today, my pitches were really good."

Hiroki Kuroda (12-10) allowed four runs on eight hits over 8 1/3 innings for the Yankees. The Japanese right-hander struck out four and did not issue a walk.

"He made a couple mistakes and they made him pay for it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

The Orioles scored three runs in the second inning and never looked back. Adam Jones and Matt Wieters singled to put men on the corners. Davis' sacrifice fly and Reynolds' two-run homer made it a 3-0 contest.

Hardy's homer to left in the sixth made it a four-run game.

New York, which had one hit through five innings, left two men on base in the home sixth. Ichiro Suzuki singled and Jayson Nix walked with no outs. Derek Jeter grounded into a fielder's choice to put men on the corners. But Nick Swisher struck out swinging and Robinson Cano fouled out to end the threat.

Baltimore tacked on two more runs in the ninth. Reynolds hit a solo homer off Derek Lowe and Markakis hit an RBI single.

Curtis Granderson homered off Brian Matusz in the bottom half to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Yankees and Orioles have split 12 games this season ... Baltimore signed left-handed pitcher Randy Wolf and added him to the 25-man roster on Friday ... New York went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded five ... Markakis had three hits.