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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Sport
Eduardo A. Encina

Orioles' rally falls short as Yankees hold on for 10-8 series-opening win

NEW YORK _ The beginning of the Orioles' final road trip of the season landed them at the one place they've actually played well this season: Yankee Stadium.

But as this Orioles team limps to the finish of the franchise's worst season, it opened a 10-game stretch Friday against three teams positioned for the postseason.

The New York Yankees still had plenty to play for Friday night _ the right to host the American League wild-card game.

The Orioles put a dent into an early six-run deficit, drawing within one run after the top of the eighth, but the Yankees extended their lead on their way to a 10-8 win over the Orioles.

The Orioles (44-109) matched their best run total this month, rallying with four runs in the eighth on two-run homers by Renato Nunez and DJ Stewart cut the New York lead to 9-8. But the Orioles bullpen kept giving runs back, as it did in the bottom of the eighth, when Paul Fry yielded a critical insurance run on Aaron Judge's RBI double.

Orioles right-hander Yefry Ramirez (1-7) couldn't get out of the fourth inning _ further clouding whether his future is as a starter or a long reliever _ as he allowed six runs over 32/3 frames.

The Orioles entered the night having won four of six games at Yankee Stadium this year, but they come into the Bronx having lost 11 of their last 12 games on the road.

Ramirez allowed a pair of two run homers, a first-inning shot by Didi Gregorius and a fourth-inning blast by Aaron Hicks onto the short porch in right. That chased Ramirez from the game in a four-run fourth.

Meanwhile, the Orioles were flummoxed by 38-year-old Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia (8-7), who held them to two runs over six innings.

Despite letting the first two base runners of the game reach base, Ramirez was one strike away from a scoreless first inning. He walked Hicks to open the game, then allowed a single to Judge, before Andrew McCutchen hit into a 5-4-3 double play.

Ramirez worked ahead of Gregorius 0-2. But Gregorius worked the count full before hitting a slider over the right-field fence on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.

In the fourth, Neil Walker lined a ball to right field that Adam Jones backpedaled on and nearly caught over his shoulder, but it popped out of his glove for a double. Gleyber Torres then hit an RBI single up the middle, stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on Austin Romine's RBI groundout.

Ramirez wouldn't stop the damage from there. He walked Brett Gardner, drawing a visit from pitching coach Roger McDowell before Hicks hit a 3-1 fastball into the second deck in right.

The Orioles' only runs off Sabathia came on Jones' two-out, two-run flare single to left field that scored Nunez and Cedric Mullins in the fifth.

Austin Wynns opened the seventh with a solo homer _ his fourth of the season _ off Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga. Jonathan Villar's RBI single off former Orioles closer Zach Britton later that inning cut the Yankees' lead to 6-4.

But in the bottom of the inning, left-hander Donnie Hart allowed a leadoff single to Hicks, and right-hander Cody Carroll walked Judge and allowed an RBI single to McCutchen.

Carroll then snagged a comebacker off the bat of Gregorius and caught Judge in a rundown to prevent a run from scoring, but Luke Voit drove in two more with a single to give the Yankees a 9-4 lead the Orioles could not erase.

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