Orioles 5 - 4 Yankees
Final
  for this game

Orioles send Yanks on verge of elimination

Sep 24, 2014 - 7:01 AM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Nick Markakis went 4-for-5 with three RBI and slugged one of three Baltimore home runs in the Orioles' 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees.

Nelson Cruz added three hits, including his 40th homer of the season, while ex-Yankee Kelly Johnson also had a solo shot as part of a 3-for-5 night as well to help the playoff-bound Orioles put New York on the brink of postseason elimination.

"Every game is important," Markakis said. "Every chance you can get home- field advantage is definitely big."

With Kansas City defeating Cleveland on Tuesday, the Yankees now stand five games behind the Royals for the American League's second wild card with five to play.

Baltimore's 17-hit barrage supported a relatively effective outing from Ubaldo Jimenez (6-9), who held the Yankees to a pair of runs on three hits over five- plus innings.

All three Oriole homers were served up by Brandon McCarthy (7-5), roughed up for 11 hits and five runs despite fanning eight over 5 1/3 innings.

Brian McCann finished 2-for-4 with a two-run homer that pulled the Yankees within one in the seventh, but Zach Britton struck out Derek Jeter with the tying run on base in the ninth to notch his 36th save.

Jeter, playing in likely his third-to-last game at Yankee Stadium, had an infield single and scored a run in five trips to the plate.

"It's been loud," said Jeter. "The fans have been awesome."

Johnson, who spent the season's first four months with New York, began Baltimore's power display with a blast into the bleachers in right center to lead off a two-run second inning. Singles by Jimmy Paredes, Nick Hundley and Markakis later in the frame staked Jimenez to a 2-0 lead.

Markakis doubled the margin two innings afterward, following a Hundley single with his first homer since August 25.

The Yankees, on the other hand, didn't record their first hit off Jimenez until Mark Teixeira doubled behind a walk to Chase Headley in the bottom of the fourth. A groundout off the bat of Chris Young pushed Headley home to get New York on the board.

Cruz's milestone homer came off a McCarthy sinker in the fifth, stretching Baltimore's advantage to 5-1 and its MLB-leading long-ball total to 205.

Jimenez departed after permitting a leadoff single to McCann and walking Headley again in the sixth. Reliever Brad Brach later walked Chris Young to load the bases with one out and gave up a sacrifice fly to Stephen Drew, but prevented further damage with a strikeout of Ichiro Suzuki.

Jeter legged out a slow grounder to bring McCann to the plate with two out in the seventh, and the Yankee catcher greeted Andrew Miller with a bullet into the right-field seats to trim the deficit to 5-4.

Tommy Hunter tossed a perfect eighth for Baltimore, however, and Britton yielded only a Brett Gardner single in the ninth to close the game out.

Game Notes

Hundley also collected three hits for the Orioles ... Prior to the game, Jeter was presented with the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award by Bud Selig in recognition for his accomplishments ... Cruz became the sixth player in Orioles history to reach the 40-homer mark ... The Yankees recorded 11 strikeouts on the night and now have 1,319 for the season, breaking the club record of 1,318 set in 2012 ... The win was the Orioles' 94th of the season, their most since 1997.






Related News