BALTIMORE _ The Orioles didn't acquire Seth Smith for his power stroke, but they obviously knew he had a pretty good one.
Lest anyone forget, he was the guy who hit a home run for the Seattle Mariners in each game of a four-game sweep of the Orioles at Safeco Field last season, so no one should've been surprised when he hammered a two-run shot onto the flag court in the seventh Friday night to bring the Orioles from behind in a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees at Camden Yards.
Smith was brought here because of his solid career on-base percentage, which is why he has been in the leadoff spot in the two games he started so far. He has responded with three extra-base hits in his first eight Orioles at-bats, two of them accounting for three runs in the series opener against the Yankees (1-3).
Aside from his homer, he doubled in the bottom of the first inning and scored his team's first run of the game on an opposite-field single by Adam Jones. But the Yankees had built a four-run lead against veteran starter Ubaldo Jimenez before the Orioles offense finally got in gear.
Manny Machado brought them most of the way back with a three-run homer in the fifth to spoil a solid outing by right-hander Luis Severino. Smith came up in the seventh after Jonathan Schoop reached second on a throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by J.J. Hardy.
Smith worked the count to 2-1 against former Washington Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard (0-1) before hitting a towering fly ball that landed just beyond the railing that tops the out-of-town scoreboard in right field.
Setup reliever Brad Brach and closer Zach Britton did the rest as the Orioles improved to 3-0.
Britton fell awkwardly on his ankle while trying to field a comebacker in the ninth, and was examined by the training staff. But he stayed in the game and notched his second save.
