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Yankees hit 5 homers in 9-6 win over Orioles

Sep 2, 2009 - 4:07 AM By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE(AP) -- It wasn't enough that Camden Yards sounded like Yankee Stadium. It also played like that new palace in the Bronx, much to the delight of the Yankees and their fans.

Jorge Posada homered twice, and Nick Swisher and Eric Hinske hit successive drives in a three-run seventh inning that carried New York past the Baltimore Orioles 9-6 Tuesday night.

Robinson Cano also connected for Yankees, who will try to complete a three-game sweep Wednesday. New York came to town after taking three in a row from the Chicago White Sox.

The five home runs tied a season high for the Yankees, whose new ballpark has produced more homers than any stadium in the majors. Much of the crowd of 25,782 was cheering for New York, so all those long balls made the Yankees feel even more at home in Baltimore.

"It seems like the Orioles fans are not here, so we have a lot of Yankees fans here," Posada said. "With this lineup, it seems like we don't die down. It's good to see. We get good at-bats, and the guys later on really got on base to provide that. Swisher's home run was key, though."

With the score 6-all, Cano led off the seventh with a double off Chris Ray (0-3). Swisher then homered to center, his 23rd of the season and second in two games. Two pitches later, Hinske homered to left.

Damaso Marte (1-1) followed starter A.J. Burnett and got three straight outs. Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his 38th save, and career-best 34th in a row.

Posada hit a solo shot in the third inning and a two-run homer in the fifth, but the Yankees trailed 6-5 in the sixth before rallying for their 22nd win in 28 games. The victory put New York 36 games over .500 (84-48) for the first time since finishing the 2004 season 101-61.

The AL East leaders remained 6 1/2 games ahead of second-place Boston, which beat Tampa Bay 8-4.

New York won despite another poor start by Burnett, who gave up six runs and 11 hits, including two homers, in 5 1-3 innings. Burnett is 0-4 in his last seven appearances.

"I didn't have anything," he said. "I got ahead of a few guys and wasn't able to put anybody away. It's a good thing our offense was swinging the way they were swinging."

Luke Scott and Felix Pie homered for the Orioles, who fell to 3-11 against New York this season. All-Star center fielder Adam Jones left the game with a sprained left ankle after twisting it on first base.

X-rays were negative, but Orioles manager Dave Trembley described the injury as "a pretty good sprain."

The Orioles got an uneven pitching performance from rookie David Hernandez, who gave up only four hits in five innings, but three of them were home runs. The right-hander walked six and struck out seven, but the three homers he allowed upped his total to 17 in 79 1-3 innings.

"Six walks is kind of ridiculous. I gave up four hits, three of them were home runs. That's definitely been another problem of mine," Hernandez said. "I've just got to work on getting the ball down. I mean, I feel like I had good stuff tonight. I just made some bad pitches and they hit it out."

With the game tied at 3 in the fifth, Posada thought he took a called third strike and began to walk back to the dugout. It was only the second strike, however, and two pitches later the 38-year-old catcher hit a two-run, opposite-field homer to left.

"To tell you the truth, I thought it was strike three," Posada said. "I got another crack at it, so I was a little embarrassed, you know? I got a good pitch to hit."

Earlier in the game, Posada lost track of the count and had to be told to take first base on ball four.

In the Baltimore fifth, Nick Markakis and Nolan Reimold singled before Scott hit a drive that cleared the 25-foot scoreboard in right field and landed on Eutaw Street.

"We came from behind with the two-run home run by Scott, but we walked too many and gave up too many long balls," Trembley said.

New York tied it in the sixth when Alex Rodriguez hit a two-out, broken-bat RBI single, but Posada looked at a third strike with runners on second and third.

NOTES: The Yankees announced a 1 p.m. start for their Sept. 27 home game against Boston. Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, starts at sundown that night. ... Baltimore's Brian Roberts hit his 49th double, leaving him one shy of becoming the fourth player in major league history with three or more 50-double seasons. Hall of Famers Tris Speaker, Paul Waner and Stan Musial are the others.