BALTIMORE _ Buck Showalter often dissects the baseball calendar into four parts: spring training, the regular season, September and the postseason. He bemoans the expanded rosters that emerge in season's final full month, but his teams have generally played well in September. And for the fifth straight season, they went into the month vying for a playoff berth.
But these Orioles entered their first game of this month Friday night against the New York Yankees going in the wrong direction. They have been wildly inconsistent, four games under .500 since the All-Star break, watching their hold on the American League East lead disappear as they barely hang on to the second AL wild-card spot. They also had lost 11 of their past 15 games against division opponents.
A team in need of a life raft, the Orioles set sail into September putting together the kind of victory that's been rare in the second half, combining their destructive power with strong pitching in an 8-0 shellacking of the new-look Yankees.
"We've been throwing the ball good on the mound," said Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, whose appearance in the starting lineup for the first time since Aug. 26 was no coincidence with the Orioles' offensive output. "Our offense, in terms of getting guys in, scoring runs, it's been a little struggle the second half. We're still in the thick of things. I told you in spring training I want two things to happen: All-Star break and we're still competitive, and Sept. 1 and we're still competitive. It's Sept. 2, and both things are checkpoints. Now it's up to us to see what we can do in these last 29 games."
The Orioles' output Friday was their highest scoring in their last eight games. It was buoyed by four home runs, which is characteristic of the way the Orioles won games in the first half, by outslugging their opponents. And as the Orioles continued to steer their own blueprint for right-hander Dylan Bundy _ who has shown signs of fatigue over his previous three starts _ the 23-year-old provided his team with 52/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball.
A Yankees team suddenly in the wild-card race that outscored the Orioles by 13 runs in three games at Yankee Stadium last weekend was on the other end of a rout Friday night. The Orioles' six-run second inning was fueled by three homers over a four-batter span.
All six runs were scored with two outs in the inning, and three scored after Yankees starter Chad Green left with right elbow pain.
Before Green's departure, Jones _ who served as the top of the order catalyst the Orioles' order hasn't often had _ hit an RBI bloop single to score J.J. Hardy, who scored from second following his leadoff double.
Pedro Alvarez then launched a full-count fastball onto Eutaw Street to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead. He became the sixth Oriole with 20 or more homers, marking the first time since 2010 a major league club posted at least six 20-homer hitters.
After Manny Machado walked and right-hander Nick Goody replaced Green, first baseman Chris Davis swatted an 89-mph fastball into the right-center field bleachers and home run leader Mark Trumbo followed by lining a 0-2 slider into the left-field stands for his 41st homer of the season.
Machado then tacked on two more runs in the fourth by jumping on a first-pitch slider from Yankees reliever Kirby Yates after Alvarez drew a leadoff walk.
Machado's 33rd homer of the season was a blast deep into the left-field stands, hit so hard that it didn't monitor with MLB's Statcast system.
Bundy recovered well after being battered at Yankee Stadium in his last start to the tune of five runs over four innings. He came just one out shy of a quality start and exited the game after throwing 97 pitches, 63 of them strikes.
Bundy (8-5) allowed just two hits _ both singles _ and none after the third inning. He battled with his command, tying his career high with four walks, but allowed the Yankees to reach second base just once on the night.
