Orioles Hit Grand Slam In 14th Inning To Defeat Yankees
NEW YORK (AP) — Pedro Alvarez hit a grand slam in the 14th inning, Manny Machado homered twice and the Baltimore Orioles held off the injury-depleted New York Yankees 7-3 on Friday night in a game marked by a couple wild misadventures on the basepaths.
The Yankees saw four players make early exits. Starter CC Sabathia left with a hip soreness, star catcher Gary Sanchez limped off with a possible leg cramp right before Alvarez struck, third baseman Brandon Drury was lifted for migraines and second baseman Tyler Wade was removed because of flu-like symptoms.
Alvarez connected after midnight, deciding a game that took 5 hours, 20 minutes and included 14 pitchers and some confusing video reviews.
There also were two stellar defensive plays, one by each team. The Orioles nailed the possible winning run at the plate in the 11th, then Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge robbed Caleb Joseph of a home run in the 13th.
Baltimore loaded the bases against Jonathan Holder in the 14th on a walk by Trey Mancini, a single by Machado -- his sixth time on base -- and a throwing error by third baseman Ronald Torreyes on Jonathan Schoop's sacrifice bunt try.
After Adam Jones struck out looking, Alvarez drove a no-doubter to right-center. It was the third career grand slam for Alvarez, and his first since June 30, 2012, while with Pittsburgh. Alvarez grew up in Upper Manhattan and went to Horace Mann School, about five miles from Yankee Stadium.
New York nearly won it in the 11th. With Didi Gregorius at third, right-hander Mychal Givens threw a breaking pitch to the backstop, enticing Gregorius to break for home. Joseph chased after the wild pitch, and the catcher fielded the ball on a big hop and made a backhanded flip it to Givens. The pitcher slid across home plate as he took the feed to block Gregorius and apply the tag.
A video review upheld the call -- just one play after a Yankees video challenge overturned what was initially ruled an inning-ending double play hit by Torreyes.
It was nearly another big moment in a superb week for Gregorius. He had a tying solo homer in the eighth inning off Miguel Castro that made Friday's freaky extra innings possible.
There were chances aplenty after that:
-- Baltimore had runners at the corners in the 10th, but Chad Green struck out Colby Rasmus to end the inning.
-- Givens struck out Brett Gardner, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in order in the 10th, but then needed Joseph's alert play to escape the 11th.
-- Baltimore loaded the bases against Chasen Shreve in the 12th, but the left-hander also struck out Rasmus to end that jam.
-- Judge jumped at the wall and took away a homer from Joseph for the final out of the 13th -- in nearly the exact spot where he robbed Cleveland's Francisco Lindor in Game 3 of last year's AL Division Series. Judge led off with a walk in the bottom of the inning and stole second, but was stranded by the heart of New York's order by rookie Pedro Araujo.
-- Gregorius yanked one potential game-ending home run just foul in the 11th. Stanton was even closer with his shot to left that also went foul in the 13th.
Brad Brach pitched a scoreless 14th for his second save.
All of that buried a breakout show by Machado, who homered in his first two at-bats for his first RBIs this season en route to four hits and two walks. Machado had gone without an RBI in his first seven games this year, matching 2014 for his longest career stretch without one to start a season.
Chris Davis also hit his first homer of the year for Baltimore, which had just six homers in seven games coming in.
Sabathia allowed the shots to Machado and Davis before exiting and being sent for an MRI. The 37-year-old threw 58 pitches over four innings.
Sanchez was pulled during the 14th inning.
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