BALTIMORE _ They waited and waited, and the storm they feared never came. So the Yankees and Orioles began their game on Saturday evening after a non-rain delay of 1:44.
The Yankees have been waiting and waiting for Giancarlo Stanton, too. Every good at-bat leads them to believe the struggling slugger will go on a tear like the one he had for Miami last August, when the eventual National League MVP hit 18 homers.
Stanton believes it, too. But even he can't guarantee that one at-bat, or one swing, is proof that his personal storm is coming.
Still, it was nice for Stanton to have that one swing on Saturday in the Yankees' 8-5 victory over the Orioles before 32,823 at Camden Yards.
It was the first pitch of a third-inning at-bat against Kevin Gausman. The pitch was outside. Stanton (2-for-4, walk) extended his arms and hit a no-doubt two-run homer to right. He paused, dropped the bat and jogged to first base.
It was Stanton's 12th home run _ he hit 59 in 2017 _ and his first since May 19. It also was one of 13 hits for the Yankees in their fourth win in a row.
Miguel Andujar (2-for-4, three RBIs) also had a two-run shot for the Yankees, the go-ahead blast in the second after Masahiro Tanaka gave up a homer to Adam Jones in the first. Stanton's homer in the following inning gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead.
Tanaka (7-2, 4.79 ERA), who has allowed 15 home runs in 67 2/3 innings, also gave up solo shots to Joey Rickard in the third and Manny Machado in the sixth but still won for the third straight start. Tanaka went 5 1/3 innings and was charged with four runs. He gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out seven against the American League's lowest-scoring team.
