Beckham's 2-HR game rallies O's past Yanks

NEW YORK -- Just when it seemed like the Orioles were doomed for trouble after starter Alex Cobb left Sunday's matinee at Yankee Stadium after just four pitches with an aggravated blister, Tim Beckham was there to provide a much-needed spark.
Combined with a solid showing from some young arms in the Baltimore bullpen, Beckham logged his third career multi-homer game to not only help lift the Orioles to a 6-3 victory over the Yankees, but also show the team its potential for the 2019 season.
"It's huge," Beckham said of Sunday's win. "Like I said earlier, baseball is a game of adjustments and you never know. You might click a fastball, and that feeling, it might be the feeling you need to … ride you out for two or three years, or ride you out for the rest of the season. As far as finishing the season strong, it's huge for all of us. It's taking momentum for next season and next spring [as we] look to have a good year next year."

The Yankees jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly and a pair of RBI singles off reliever Mike Wright Jr., but Beckham had an answer in the top of the second by launching a projected 421-foot solo blast, per Statcast™, to left-center field off Yanks starter J.A. Happ to get the Orioles on the board. The homer was Beckham's first since Sept. 1, snapping an 11-game homerless stretch. He hit .184 with 10 strikeouts in that span.

"If you look at it number-wise, yeah, it's been a tough year for me," Beckham said. "I started the season banged up a little bit and I had to have surgery. It all comes with the territory. There's no excuses and you just play the game, you take the field and you want to give it your all. You want to play winning baseball when you're out there, and you know, just try to simplify things at the plate as far as taking it into next season and taking it into next spring."
Beckham was only heating up. Following a leadoff double by Trey Mancini off the Yanks' A.J. Cole in the sixth, Beckham hit his second home run of the day into the left-field seats to knot the game at 3. The tie lasted mere seconds before Renato Núñez went back-to-back with Beckham, smashing a 3-2 slider over the left-field fence. DJ Stewart's sacrifice fly later in the inning gave Baltimore a two-run lead, and he added an RBI double in the eighth.

Wright was called on to do the majority of the heavy lifting, relieving Cobb during the Yankees' first at-bat of the game. After allowing the three runs in the first, Wright settled in to toss three shutout frames before rookie relievers Ryan Meisinger, Tanner Scott and Cody Carroll each did their part to silence the New York bats. Mychal Givens then worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his ninth save of the year.

"I mean, moving forward that's our future," Wright said. "[The Yankees] are in playoff mode. There's a huge crowd here, lots of adversity. … We ended up getting the win. That's huge. Moving into next season, a game like today is what we want our future to look like."
SOUND SMART
With Sunday's victory, the Orioles secured a winning record at Yankee Stadium this season. By going 5-4, Baltimore clinched its first winning record in the Bronx since going 6-4 in 2014. The Birds do not have more than two wins at any other visiting ballpark this year.
"It's good to hear," Wright said. "Obviously, it's an AL East opponent and it's a tough crowd to come play in front of. We battled all year, and hopefully we can have more of that moving forward and going into next year."

HE SAID IT
"Everybody's battling. You wouldn't guess by the last three games we have [110] losses. You know, we're working the count. J.A. Happ's a great pitcher and our hitters made him throw over 100 pitches in five innings, and that says a lot about the guys that are in our locker room and it's exciting moving forward." -- Wright Jr.
UP NEXT
The Orioles will travel to Boston on Monday to open a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Dylan Bundy will make his 30th start of the season and will be looking to record his third consecutive quality start. Last time out, the righty allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits through 6 2/3 frames against the Blue Jays. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will get the start for Boston. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET.