NEW YORK _ It was tote bag giveaway day at Yankee Stadium Saturday, though the way things went, the promotional calendar this weekend might've well have said they were giving away home run balls.
The Yankees continued their merciless attack on the Orioles pitching, hitting four home runs a day after they hit five, and claiming the best record in the American League with a 12-4 win. The Yankees (15-7) have scored 26 runs in the last two games. On Saturday, Brett Gardner hit two, while Aaron Judge hit his 10th, tying the Major League rookie record for April homers (Trevor Story and Jose Abreu were the others). It's the Yankees fourth win in a row.
Fittingly, they ended Friday with a home run and kicked off Saturday afternoon with another one. Gardner hit his first of the year on Ubaldo Jimenez's second pitch, delivering the sinker to the short porch in right for the Yankees first leadoff homer of the year, and the seventh of Gardner's career.
He added his second one inning later. Jimenez, who allowed a single to Didi Gregorius and walked the next two to load the bases, allowed a sacrifice fly to Austin Romine to bring up Gardner, who this time went to right-center. His home run, which landed in the Yankees' bullpen to put them up 5-0.
The Yankees tacked on two more in the fourth, kicked off by Judge's hard single to left. Greg Bird walked and then Judge stole third, and an errant throw from catcher Caleb Joseph allowed Bird to advance as well. Romine drove them both in with a single up the middle, making that only the fourth of the Yankees' previous 17 runs not to be scored on a homer. It put the Yankees up 7-0 and ended Jimenez's day after just 68 pitches. Six of the runs were earned.
Meanwhile, Pineda put together another solid outing, his fourth in a row. He allowed two unearned runs on five hits, with a walk and eight strikeouts over 51/3 innings. The Orioles didn't crack him until the sixth, when Manny Machado led off with a double.
After Pineda struck out Chris Davis, Mark Trumbo hit a sharp grounder to third, which was stabbed by Chase Headley for the diving stop, but Headley threw wide to first for the error, scoring Machado. Adam Warren came on and loaded the bases on a two-out walk and hit by pitch, before a wild pitch scored Trumbo to draw the Orioles to within 7-2. He struck out Caleb Joseph to end the inning.
No cause for concern, though: in the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees once again made a victim out of their former pitcher, Vidal Nuno. Nuno, who gave up a grand slam to Ellsbury on Friday, this time walked Judge to lead off the inning. One batter later, Romine hit his second homer of the year, to left, to put the Yankees back up by seven.
Judge, who hit two home runs Friday, added his Saturday contribution in the seventh. This one, a two-run homer under the Coach sign over the bullpen, gave the Yankees a 12-2 advantage.
Romine, catching the day game after the night game, was 2 for 3 with five RBIs. Judge was 2 for 2 with two walks and four runs.
