.''I was all nervous with Adam Jones out there,'' Holliday said of the Orioles' Gold Glove center fielder. ''Just enough to get it over the fence.''Down 9-1 in the sixth, the Yankees pulled off their biggest comeback since overcoming a 9-0 gap to beat Boston 15-9 in 2012. On the first true spring-like day in New York, the ball was flying. Featured were all kinds of monster shots - cleanup men Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Trumbo connected for grand slams, and Yankees fan favorite Aaron Judge homered twice, including a drive tracked at 119.4 mph off the bat, the hardest-hit ball since Statcast began counting in 2015. Manny Machado launched a 470-foot homer, the longest in the majors this year, and Welington Castro also homered for Baltimore. Aroldis Chapman (1-0) pitched the 10th as the Yankees won their third straight and tied Baltimore at 14-7 for the AL East lead. Ellsbury hit his 100th career home run and first slam, tagging Vidal Nuno and drawing New York to 11-8 in the seventh. Brach had started the season with 12 scoreless innings before the Yankees got him. A leadoff walk and a double by Holliday set up Ellsbury's grounder for his fifth RBI, and Castro followed with a shot far into the left-field seats. Machado, who began the day batting just .205 with three home runs, also hit a two-run double and singled against CC Sabathia. Trumbo was stuck in a worse rut, an 0-for-25 slide dropping him to .185. After grounding a soft single, he hit his fourth career slam, measured at 459 feet by Statcast and putting the Orioles up by eight runs in the sixth. Trumbo led the majors with 47 home runs last year. This season, his only previous homer had been a game-ending shot on opening day. Judge lined a shot into the Baltimore bullpen in the fifth. In the sixth, he hit his ninth homer, a two-run homer that made it 9-4. TRAINER'S ROOMOrioles: LF Joey Rickard was activated from the 10-day disabled list after missing time with a sprained finger. He got his first two hits of the season, two-out singles on a tapper and a bunt that led to runs. ... RHP Chris Tillman (shoulder bursitis) joined the team at Yankee Stadium. He hasn't pitched this season and manager Buck Showalter said the club would see how Tillman is feeling after a workout. Yankees: SS Didi Gregorius came off the disabled list after being sidelined by a strained right shoulder, an injury that occurred while playing for the Netherlands in last month's World Baseball Classic. The public address announcer greeted him with ''Welcome Back!'' when presenting the starting lineups. Gregorius doubled, singled and a couple of nice plays in the field. ... C Gary Sanchez (strained right biceps) is to start a rehab assignment Tuesday at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. UP NEXTOrioles: Baltimore is 4-0 in games started by RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0, 5.95) despite three shaky outings, including one against the Yankees. Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (2-1, 3.86) has allowed home runs in a career-high six straight starts dating to last season.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Time: 7:05 PM EDT Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY, 10451 NEW YORK -- As April nears the end, the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees are the best teams in the American League East. It didn't look that way three weeks ago when the teams met in Baltimore. Since then, both teams are rolling as they open a three-game series Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Baltimore began the season with four straight wins, has yet to lose a series and takes a 14-6 record into Friday. It is the Orioles' best 20-game start since 1997, when they won 98 games. In the first series against New York, April 7-9, Baltimore won two one-run games and the Yankees rallied for a 7-3 victory. Each game was decided in the seventh inning or later. Since the last meeting, the Orioles are 10-5 while the Yankees are 12-3. The Orioles are winning despite a .236 team batting average and a .297 on-base percentage. While Johnathan Schoop is batting .294, Adam Jones is hitting .278 and Chris Davis is at .264, Manny Machado's average is .205 and Mark Trumbo is batting .190. Baltimore picked up its latest win with contributions from all those players except for Trumbo, who is hitless in his last 23 at-bats. Despite their key players contributing, the Orioles still needed a bases-loaded walk in the 11th inning from Seth Smith to get a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday." Very seldom are you going to be functional on all cylinders, but those are the types of games you like to win," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. The Orioles also are winning while ace Chris Tillman (sore right shoulder) and closer Zach Britton (left forearm strain) rehab. Both players are close to returning. One Oriole not clicking on all cylinders is Kevin Gausman, who takes a 1-2 record and a 7.50 ERA into his sixth start on Friday. Gausman was 8-6 with a 3.10 ERA in his last 15 starts of 2016 but is struggling to duplicate his success so far." Not very good," Gausman said of his slow start. "Pretty frustrating, especially being the guy who they gave the ball to Opening Day." Gausman's lone win was April 13 in Toronto. In his last two starts, against the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox, the right-hander allowed 13 runs and 16 hits in eight innings, serving up four home runs. On Sunday, Gausman allowed five runs and eight hits, including a career-worst three home runs." I like the fact he didn't implode and got us to the sixth inning and competed like we know Kevin can," Showalter said. "There will be better days for him." Gausman enjoyed two of his better days at Yankee Stadium last season and was 3-1 with a 1.10 ERA in six starts against the Yankees in 2016. On Aug. 28, Gausman allowed seven hits and struck nine in seven innings of a 5-0 win. On Oct. 2, he helped the Orioles clinch the second American League wild-card spot by allowing two runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings of a 5-2 win. Gausman is 6-3 with a 2.24 ERA in 18 appearances (12 starts) against the Yankees. He is 3-2 with a 2.38 ERA in nine appearances (six starts) in New York. The Yankees are winning despite the DL stints of Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez. Gregorius is expected to return from a strained shoulder Friday, and Sanchez, who sustained a biceps strain on a swing in Baltimore on April 8, will start a rehab assignment Tuesday." We are playing good baseball and are confident right now," Yankees third baseman Chase Headley said. Without its starting shortstop and catcher, New York has three regulars hitting at least .300 (Starlin Castro .346, Headley .329, Jacoby Ellsbury .301), and Aaron Judge has seven of the team's 27 home runs." It just creates a great environment for our clubhouse," Yankees GM Brian Cashman said before New York's 3-0 win in Boston on Thursday. "It looks like we have a great group of individuals that all get along with each other, work hard and create an atmosphere of pulling together and competing against a common opponent. It's a good feel." New York's starting pitchers recovered after a sub-par first turn through the rotation, and left-hander CC Sabathia will look to keep it going Friday. After Masahiro Tanaka's three-hitter Thursday, the Yankees have a 2.90 ERA. In the past 15 games, the pitching staff has a 2.37 ERA and a .197 opponents' average. Sabathia (2-1) comes off his worst start of the season when, he allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings in a 6-3 loss at Pittsburgh on April 21. Sabathia has been pitching so well that it only increased his ERA to 2.70." I felt pretty good," Sabathia said. "My stuff was a little short. I just tried to battle and keep the game as close as possible." Sabathia did not get the decision in New York's win in Baltimore on April 9, when he allowed three runs (two earned) and six hits in six innings to give the Yankees a chance at coming back from a 3-0 deficit. The Yankees wound up with a 7-3 win. He is 19-10 with a 3.30 ERA in 39 career starts against the Orioles.
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