BALTIMORE _ If Sonny Gray had pitched more outings like this one, he likely would still be in the starting rotation.
Even if this performance did come against the Orioles, Gray still gave the Yankees what they were hoping for.
Gray, making a spot start for the second game of a split doubleheader, limited Baltimore through 61/3 scoreless innings while helping to lead the Yankees to a 5-1 win before 26,236 fans at Camden Yards on Saturday.
As Gray walked back to the dugout after manager Aaron Boone took him out of the game, the many Yankee fans in the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Gray hasn't gotten many of those this season, at home or on the road.
The right-hander allowed just three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in the 79-pitch outing.
Baltimore scored its only run against reliever Tommy Kahnle in the ninth.
With the win, the Yankees swept the doubleheader.
They put on a power display in the first game, hitting four home runs in a 10-3 victory. That included a three-run shot from Miguel Andujar, who continues to build a case for American League Rookie of the Year.
The Yankees jumped on Orioles starter Andrew Cashner quickly.
Brett Gardner led off the game with a double and Giancarlo Stanton walked before Aaron Hicks, who went 3-for-5 in the first game, hit an RBI single to put the Yankees ahead.
They continued tacking on more, at times taking advantage of a blundering Orioles defense.
The Yankees scored twice in the second inning, with Gleyber Torres sliding head-first into home on a wild pitch.
Then in the fourth, Austin Romine reached on a single with one out. Ronald Torreyes followed with a grounder to short, but first baseman Trey Mancini dropped the throw for an error.
Gardner reached on a fielder's choice before Stanton smacked an RBI single off the right-field wall to put the Yankees up, 4-0.
They added another when Romine led off the top of the ninth with a solo home run off reliever Miguel Castro.
One Yankee who didn't get a hit was Greg Bird.
Back in the starting lineup after being supplanted the previous two games by the hot-hitting Luke Voit, Bird went 0-for-4.
He was loudly booed by the Yankee fans in the crowd when he struck out in the fourth and then again when he grounded into a double play to end the top of the eighth.
Staked with run support, Gray cruised.
Gray was making his first start since Aug. 1, when he allowed seven runs against these same Orioles. Gray lost his job in the starting rotation shortly after as the Yankees demoted him the bullpen, where he has been pitching well.
In four relief appearances, Gray is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA. Before Friday, he had last pitched on Sunday against the Blue Jays.
"He's done a good job for us in the bullpen," Boone said before the game. "We don't have him up to his normal pitch threshold when he was starting, but not far off from that. So hopefully he can just go out there and attack the strike zone and if he does that, he'll pitch well."
Gray did pitch well, including overcoming some trouble in the fourth.
Chris Davis singled with two outs and Mancini doubled to put two runners on. But Gray bounced back by striking out Renato Nunez to end the inning and escape the jam.
