Bradish solid in return as Orioles beat Yankees to win series
BALTIMORE (AP) — Ryan Mountcastle and Jorge Mateo each homered and drove in two runs to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a series-deciding 7-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday.
Ryan McKenna also connected and Jordan Westburg's two-run triple helped the Orioles complete a four-run fifth to chase Yankees starter Carlos Rodon (2-2) and secure a third win of the four-game set, the first this season between likely AL East contenders.
Righty Kyle Bradish allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings in his first start after beginning the season on the 15-day injured list with a UCL strain. Keegan Akin (1-0) retired four batters while allowing a run in middle relief.
Gleyber Torres hit his first home run but also made the Yankees' third error of the series to help extend the game's decisive inning.
Rondon yielded all seven Baltimore runs — six earned — on eight hits in his shortest outing of 2024.
He escaped his bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second before Mountcastle's solo shot in the third, and Mateo's and McKenna's in the fourth.
After Mountcastle singled in another run in the fifth, Anthony Santander grounded a potential double-play ball to shortstop. Instead, Torres fumbled the ball trying to barehand the feed from Volpe and both runners were safe with none out.
After a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Westburg drove Rodon's 2-1 slider down the middle to the base of the wall in left-center to plate both runners, then came home on Mateo's sacrifice fly off newly entered reliever Ron Marinaccio.
Bradish threw 51 of 84 pitches for strikes in his return from a rehab assignment that ended more quickly than some expected. He escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the first and left with runners on the corners in the fifth before Akin induced Anthony Rizzo into a popout to short.
Yankees: LF Alex Verdugo returned to the lineup and batted sixth after missing three games on the paternity list. ... Optioned C Carlos Narvaez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Orioles: Activated Bradish and designated RHP Yohan Ramirez. ... With Bradish making Thursday's start, LHP John Means (forearm strain) will make his first start of the season on Saturday after he was activated from the injured list on Wednesday. ... OF Austin Hays (left calf strain) took batting practice and did on-field drills and could go on a rehab assignment soon, manager Brandon Hyde said.
Yankees: RHP Marcus Stroman (2-1, 3.69) looks to rebound from a four-inning outing — his shortest of the season — in the opener of a six-game homestand Friday night against Detroit.
Orioles: RHP Cole Irvin (2-1, 3.49) tries to extend his stretch of 14 1/3 scoreless innings when Baltimore begins a five-game road trip at Cincinnati on Friday night.
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