Alex Cobb has now won all three of his starts in 2020, beating the Yankees for the second time this year as the Orioles won 6-3.
Orioles moves
The Orioles sent relievers LHP Tanner Scott and RHP Travis Lakins to Norfolk and recalled RHP Dillon Tate and RHP Cole Sulser.
In a minor league trade, the Orioles sent LHP Ty Blach to the Astros for 26-year old first baseman Taylor Jones. Jones will be assigned to Norfolk who start the season tomorrow night.
Lineups vs RHP Masahiro Tanaka
- Austin Hays – CF
- Andrew Velazquez – SS
- Dwight Smith Jr. – DH
- Renato Nunez – 1B
- Rio Ruiz – 3B
- Pedro Severino – C
- Mason Williams – LF
- Hanser Alberto – 2B
- Anthony Santander – RF
The Orioles got on the board in the 1st inning, but only scored one run despite collecting three hits a walk.
The Orioles added to the lead in the 2nd when Hanser Alberto reach on an error by first baseman Luke Voit, ending up on second. After Anthony Santander, who is trying to play his way back to the minor leagues made an out, Austin Hays smacked a lined single up the middle to score Alberto to make it 2-0. With Andrew Velazquez up, Hays took off on a hit run as Velazquez lined a ball down the left field line allowing Hays to scurry all the way around and score on the double to make it 3-0.
Dwight Smith Jr. then came up and smacked a single just over the second baseman that Brett Gardner race in to field. Velazquez raced around third as Gardner came up throwing but Velazquez was able to slide in safely with Smith Jr. moving up to second making it 4-0.
Down by Four, the Yankees got a run back in the bottom of the 2nd when Voit made up for his error but hitting a monster left field home run off Orioles tarter Alex Cobb to make it 4-1.
In the bottom of the 4th, the Yankees cut the lead to 4-2 with a two-out Giancarlo Stanton solo home run to center field.
In the bottom of the 7th, Cobb struck out Voit on his 96 pitch to start the inning, but with two left-handers coming up with DJ LeMahieu (RHP) in between, Hyde decided to play a little match up baseball and brought in LHP Paul Fry. Cobb ended up going six and a third, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk while five strikeouts.
Fry did his job getting LHB Mike Ford and Lemahieu to fly out to keep it 4-2. Zack Britton shut the O’s down in the top of the 8th and Fry came back to pitch the 8th, allowing only a two-out double to Gardner to keep it 4-2. A really outstanding job by Fry.
Britton came back out int he 8th and after getting Santander out (big surprise) Hays worked him for a walk before he was moved to third on a perfect hit and run with Velazquez again. With runners on first and third and one out, Hyde brought in Pat Valaika to pinch hit for Smith Jr. against Britton. With two strikes, Velazquez took off for second and slid in safely for his first stolen base of the year despite Valaika striking out. The brought up Renato Nunez who promptly lined a single into right field scoring both Hays and Velazquez to make it 6-2. Big insurance runs there, especially since Givens just threw yesterday.
With a four-run lead, Hyde sat Givens down and brought in Dillon Tate to make his 2020 debut. Facing the Yankees 3-4-5 batters is quite a test. On the first pitch Tate threw, Torres hit an opposite field home run to cut the lead to 6-3. With the new three batter minimum rule, despite a save situation, Tate had to stay in and he promptly walked Stanton. Tate though, settled in and struck out Voit then caught Ford looking for the second out. With Givens now warmed up and ready to go, Tate got LaMahieu to ground into the 6-4 put out to end the game. Orioles win 6-3 and improve to 4-8 on the season.
Orioles Player of the game: Alex Cobb (6.1 IP, 4H, 2ER, 6K, W)
Orioles News
The Minor League season opens up tomorrow night as all four full season affiliates open their seasons.
