NEW YORK _ After a Friday evening Aaron Boone called "as unique a night as you're going to have in the game" the Yankees were in need of a lift Saturday afternoon.
Players went down like bowling pins in a 14-inning loss the Orioles the night before and arrived at the ballpark a bit bleary-eyed to discover two of them, left-hander CC Sabathia and starting third baseman Brandon Drury, were headed for the disabled list.
"A little adversity has creeped in and hit us here but our job is to go out there and perform," Boone said late Saturday morning. "There's no excuses."
A few hours later, the Yankees didn't play like a team looking for any.
Getting contributions from up and down the lineup, a patented escape act from David Robertson and a decent six innings by Sonny Gray, the Yankees snapped a modest two-game skid with an 8-3 victory over the Orioles on a crisp 42-degree afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (5-4), with recent call-up Jace Peterson getting the start in left field and rookie prospect Miguel Andujar manning third, the Yankees banged out 11 hits, getting three from Brett Gardner, Tyler Austin and Ronald Torreyes. Gardner, Aaron Judge and Austin each had two RBIs.
Gray, on a day the Yankees needed some length by a starter, allowed three runs and four hits over six innings.
With the Yankees leading 5-3, Adam Warren came on for Gray to start the seventh and allowed a one-out single to Chance Sisco and a double to Trey Mancini. That brought Manny Machado, who homered twice Friday, to the plate and Aaron Boone to the mound to summon Robertson.
The veteran got ahead of Machado 1-and-2 before striking out the shortstop looking on a borderline 2-and-2 fastball. Robertson, who brought a 9.00 ERA into the game, struck out four over 12/3 dominant innings.
