Rich Dubroff
April 9, 2014
NEW YORK –- Adam Jones quickly ceded his temporary place as the center of Yankee Stadium attention. By the time he came to the plate in the first inning, there were a number of boos directed at him because of his comments on fans rushing the field, but almost all eyes were on Masahiro Tanaka.
Tanaka’s Yankee Stadium debut didn’t draw a sellout crowd on a chilly evening. Even though the stands weren’t filled, Tanaka, who signed a seven-year, $155 million contract in January, still was greeted with an air of expectation.
He was gone by the ninth inning when the Orioles rallied for two runs against Shawn Kelley and beat the Yankees 5-4 before 39,412 on Wednesday night.
Jones heard all the Tanaka questions, endured all the hype. He saw Tanaka strike out 10 Orioles in seven innings. He knows he’ll be facing him again and again.
“We don’t care, We got the W. That’s all that matters,” Jones said.
“It’s nothing special to me. He’s just another pitcher in their rotation. He’s just another guy we have to go through to get to where we want to be.”
The Orioles (4-5) won their first series of the season and their first at Yankee Stadium since 2012.
It took four straight hits and a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and a harrowing escape by Tommy Hunter in the bottom of the ninth.
With the game tied at 3, Ryan Flaherty led off with a double to center. Jonathan Schoop singled to right, and Nick Markakis followed with a single to right, and the Orioles led 4-3.
Delmon Young, who is 6-for-9 in the last two games, singled to load the bases. Schoop scored on Chris Davis’ fly to center.
Brian Matusz (1-0) picked up the win. Hunter picked up his third save despite giving up a run in the ninth.
Kelley (0-1), who is serving as the Yankees’ closer while David Robertson is out, got the loss.
Hunter allowed a double to Alfonso Soriano and single to Kelly Johnson to start the ninth. Brian Roberts hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Soriano and Yangervis Solarte hit into a game-ending double play.
“It was interesting. Definitely made that a little harder than you’d typically want that to be, but they hit the line twice, man. Got to try to get out of the situation. B-Rob, you can’t walk a guy to load the bases with nobody out, so just attack him. And a nice double play to end the game,” Hunter said.
Tanaka was impressive. He allowed three runs, on Schoop’s long three-run home run to left field in the second.
“We saw the video [of Tanaka], but in that at bat he just made a mistake. He left a slider up and I put the barrel out and he ball went out. He just made a mistake there and then he started to keep the ball low. In that at bat, he threw the slider one time and then he threw one up,” Schoop said.
Tanaka won his U.S. debut on Saturday in Toronto and counting his time in Japan, has won 29 straight decisions.
“As advertised, as paid for. He’s going to be a great contributor here. You feel fortunate any time you can end up with a W with him on the mound. He’s impressive,” manager Buck Showalter said.
New York (4-5) hit two solo home runs in the second off Miguel Gonzalez, Carlos Beltran’s first and Kelly Johnson’s second, to cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-2.
In the fourth, Beltran doubled, moved to third on Brian McCann’s fly ball to right and scored on .Soriano’s ground ball to short.
Gonzalez pitched six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out three.
Evan Meek, who pitched a tidy 1-2-3 seventh, allowed a leadoff double to Brett Gardner in the eighth. Derek Jeter bunted Gardner to third, but Matusz got Jacoby Ellsbury to foul out, intentionally walked Beltran and retired McCann on a fly to center.
“I’ll tell you what made me nervous was throwing up the four-pitch walk with a guy on third base. I’ve never been so nervous to throw four pitches. But in those situations, getting Jacoby and McCann, it doesn’t matter who is in the box. Got to get outs one way or the other and it’s great having Wieters out there, having 100 percent ultimate trust in him. And just shaking your head yes and attacking the zone,” Matusz said.
Matusz has stranded 51 of his last 56 inherited runners, which leads the majors since the beginning of 2012.
“That makes for real good friends with your teammates, the other pitchers. They really like that. They all notice that,” Showalter said.
SD Yankee Report 