Tanaka, Yankees stymied by O's 5-run 7th

NEW YORK -- Masahiro Tanaka had cruised all night, but as he snapped off a seventh-inning slider that looked a little too inviting, he figured there was a "50-50" chance that Adam Jones was about to change his fortune. This time, the coin flip did not come up in the Yankees' favor.
Jones banged Tanaka's offering over the left-center-field wall, and the Orioles continued to hack in a five-run frame -- their biggest outburst of the season -- to snap a five-game losing streak with a 5-2 win on Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
"Obviously there is a lot of frustration there," Tanaka said through an interpreter. "That's the inning that you don't want to give up a run. I was able to manage to grind through six innings with some good defense behind me, but just to give up a homer like that, especially after us scoring a run -- it's disappointing."
Aaron Judge continued to pound Baltimore pitching, breaking up a taut duel between Tanaka and Andrew Cashner by homering in the sixth, but the Bombers managed just three other hits against Cashner and three relievers.

"He kept us off-balance the whole night, righties and lefties," Judge said. "We just weren't able to jump on him early. We couldn't get anything going."
After Jones' two-run blast, Anthony Santander knocked a run-scoring double and Trey Mancini chased home two runs with a single to help the O's bat around, securing their third victory in 11 games at Yankee Stadium since the beginning of the 2017 season.
Cashner picked up his first win with the Orioles, spinning six innings of one-run ball while improving to 2-1 with a 1.73 ERA in his career against the Bombers. With a 10-inning scoreless streak snapped by Jones' homer, Tanaka took the loss, charged with three runs and six hits over 6 1/3 innings.
"With this team especially, the Orioles, they're pretty good at taking advantage of mistakes with slug," manager Aaron Boone said. "Tip your cap to Adam Jones. He got him. I don't think it really takes away from how good Masa was again tonight."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
For the Birds: Judge's domination of Orioles pitching carried over into the new season, with his sixth-inning shot off Cashner. It was the slugger's 12th against Baltimore, his most against any team. It was Judge's 58th homer in 189 career games, making him the fastest player in Major League history to reach the mark. Last season, Judge hit .426/.588/1.049 in 19 games against the O's. More >

Breaking the string: Tanaka had retired 10 straight Orioles heading into the seventh inning, but the outing turned quickly. Schoop singled and Jones hit a deep drive to left field that carried over a leaping Giancarlo Stanton for a two-run homer. Two batters later, Tanaka's night was over and the O's carried on against Chad Green, scoring three more runs.
"He missed some spots with his fastball down in the zone," Boone said of Green. "Usually, he's really good at the top of the zone with mixing in his slider. He missed on the plate and they put some good at-bats against him in that inning. Just one of those bumps along the way for him."

Hit, but no hits:Darren O'Day pitched into trouble in the eighth inning, hitting Didi Gregorius and Gary Sánchez back-to-back to load the bases. That brought up Walker representing the potential go-ahead run. After a mound visit, O'Day watched Neil Walker connect with three foul balls before getting him to tap an 87.1-mph fastball back to the mound, ending the inning and stranding three runners.
"I still feel like we're grinding pitchers down a little bit," Boone said. "Baltimore has got a good bullpen, too. We really made them work hard for everything, but they got us tonight."
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Mancini was called out at home plate following a first-inning review, having been initially ruled safe by umpire Ron Kulpa. Jones ripped a two-out double past third baseman Miguel Andujar, with Mancini dashing around from first base. Gregorius fired a strong relay throw from medium-depth left field, which was snared by Sanchez and applied to Mancini's thigh an instant before his left hand touched home plate.

In the eighth inning, Brett Gardner adamantly declared that he was hit on the hand by an O'Day pitch, convincing Boone to challenge the ruling on the field. After a brief review, the call of no hit-by-pitch was confirmed. Gardner made it to first base anyway, working a walk later in the at-bat.

"We didn't have anything conclusive on video, but I'm not going to take the challenge to bed with me," Boone said. "Gardy, even when he came back, he said it clipped his knuckle barely. Usually as a hitter, that's something you feel."
WHAT'S NEXT
The series continues on Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET as veteran Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia takes the ball for his first home start of the season. The 37-year-old lefty took a no-decision in his season debut at Toronto, allowing two runs (one earned) in five innings and leaving with the game tied.
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