BIRD WATCHING IN THE BRONX: YANKS BLOW A SWEEP

Commanding the savage birds in the Bronx, Hiroki Kuroda pitched a three-hit shut out but it wasn’t enough today to shut the door on the Orioles and sweep the series on this blistering day at Yankee Stadium.  Following a four-game sweep in Minnesota, the Bombers came back to the Bronx carrying with them the momentum of champions again.  Since the Red Sox dropped a lead and then the game in Anaheim last night and they don’t play until later tonight, the Yankees could have sat 4.5 games out of first place with a win today

Kuroda silenced the bat of AL Homerun leader Chris Davis and the rest of the O’s offense, who by the way have the most starters in the upcoming AL All Star roster- Adam Jones, J.J. Hardy and of course Chris Davis.  Kuroda only threw 80 pitches by the end of the 7^th inning and Eduardo Nunez knocked the only run of the game until the 9^th with a sacrifice fly in the second inning.  Excitement in the bottom of the 7^th saw Chris Stewart steal a base albeit a bad call by the second base umpire; it was fun to see Buck Showalter all fired up.  I thought he would burn right through his Orioles’ jersey.  

David “Houdini” Robertson 9-pitched the O’s in the 8^th.  Mariano came in to shut them down in the 9^th and blew another save (six on the year according the Michael Kay, but 2 in actuality) on an Adam Jones homerun deep to left center field.  The on-fire Mo was cool today as he allowed three-hits in the ninth.  Prior to this, Mariano had 41 saved home games going back to 2011. 

Next up, the Royals come into town for a four-game stint at the Stadium.  We could see the Captain in the next week or so.  Let’s not think about this loss too much and move on- so much at stake as we head into the All-Star Break in just a week.  

Final: Orioles 2 - Yankees 1

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof





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