NEW YORK _ It was almost too easy.
Just hours after the Baltimore Orioles gutted their entire roster and officially embarked on the rebuilding era, they faced a team who made trade deadline moves aiming toward a deep October run. Don't let the scoreboard fool you, it was never as close as the 6-3 final would indicate.
Masahiro Tanaka (9-2) tossed six scoreless innings for his second straight win, Miguel Andujar hit a three-run homer and Aroldis Chapman converted a save with ease to help the Yankees cruise to a win over the trade-depleted Orioles on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
Coming off his best start of the season _ a complete game three-hitter in Tampa _ Tanaka carved up the Baltimore lineup, allowing just three hits and striking out eight.
Yefry Ramirez (1-4) was erratic at best for the visitors, allowing six runs (all earned) on five hits, striking out four, walking three and hitting one. Ramirez allowed runs in the first and third innings and got through the fourth cleanly before failing to get the first three hitters out in the fifth.
Giancarlo Stanton made it 3-0 when he scored on a sacrifice fly by Greg Bird but Andujar came through with the big run, driving the two-out offering to left field for his 13th home run of the season.
A.J. Cole allowed three runs (two earned) in the eighth. But Dellin Betances and Chapman went scoreless to secure the win.
Outfielder Clint Frazier is still in Tampa undergoing treatment for concussion-related migraines. The Yankees would like him to become an option to replace Aaron Judge while the slugger recovers from a broken wrist on the disabled list, but he has not yet resumed baseball activities and there is no timeline for his return.
"Still dealing with some symptoms, some fogginess and what not," manager Aaron Boone said. "So still trying to get to the bottom of it. But hopefully if he can get symptom free here and start ramping up the baseball work then once that happens, because he is in good shape and everything, it's something that can potentially move quickly. Then he would become an option for us."
Catcher Gary Sanchez (right groin strain) played catch Tuesday, two days after being cleared to ride the bike.
"Slow-moving, but in the early stages, I would say, of the return," Boone said.
Tommy Kahnle is still down in Triple-A Scranton but it's tough to tell just what the Yankees have planned for him. Although he's been scoreless in four of his last five outings he's received mixed reviews.
"(Reports have been) mostly good. He's been a little bit up and down in outings but for the most part it's been more positive," Boone said. "We've seen the stuff fluctuate a little bit. It's been a tick up, then we've seen it tick back down a little bit. But mostly good reports on Tommy. I think he continues to work himself back into being a real option for us."
Neil Walker saw his six-game hitting streak come to an end with an 0-for-4 performance as the designated hitter.
