No grand slams were going to save the New York Yankees (78-51) on this night, as starter A.J. Burnett (L, 9-11) continues his struggles on the mound. His latest setback is a 12-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles (52-77) on Friday night.
Burnett burned the Yankees by allowing the Orioles to score six unanswered runs in the bottom of the second inning. It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning when Jorge Posada homered (12) to plate the first Yankees run.
The struggles for Burnett continue, as the righty only tossed five innings, giving up nine hits and nine runs to the normally light-hitting Baltimore club. Leading the Orioles was catcher Matt Wieters who had a 2-for-4 day at the dish, with a homer (24) and 3 RBI’s.
New York did attempt their best comeback effort scoring a combined four runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Alex Rodriguez (14) and Nick Swisher (19) both went deep in the top of the seventh, which cut the Baltimore lead to 12-4 at the time.
For Rodriguez his homer tonight, was the first since June 11, while also ending a single-season career long drought of 96 at-bats without a long ball.
As for Swisher his homer was the 57th in the 20-year history of Camden Yards to land on Eutaw Street beyond the right-field scoreboard.
Mark Teixeira lifted a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth to cut the lead one final time, before the Orioles pen was able to close out the Game One victory.
Saturday’s double header between the Yankees and Orioles has been postponed due to the weather associated with Hurricane Irene. The afternoon portion of the game will be held on September 8, while the night game will be a part of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday.
In the day portion it will be starter Bartolo Colon (8-8, 3.71 ERA) looking to rebound from his tough starts. The righty is slated to take on a pitcher to be announced by the Orioles, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.16 ERA) will take the hill for the evening portion of the day-night double-header, and is slated to take on Brian Matusz (1-6, 8.92 ERA) for a scheduled 7:35 p.m. start.