After a rain delay of nearly three hours, CC Sabathia fired 8⅔ innings of two-run ball to help the Yankees to a 7-2 win over the Orioles on Sunday at Camden Yards. The victory gives the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the ALDS.
Yankees vs. Orioles, 2012 ALDS Game 1 score: 7-2 Yankees
CC Sabathia hurled a gem, while the Yankees took advantage of the Orioles’ bullpen meltdown to take Game One.
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New York came out of the rain delay swinging; Derek Jeter led off the game with a single and scored on an Ichiro Suzuki double. However, Jason Hammel settled down and limited the damage.
The Orioles, meanwhile, put a pair of runs on the board against Sabathia. Chris Davis and Lew Ford hit back-to-back singles, advanced on a Robert Andino sac bunt, and scored on a Nate McLouth single, putting Baltimore up, 2-1.
Mark Teixeira, mired in a 1-for-12 slump to end the regular season, smacked an RBI single off Hammel in the fourth inning to knot the game at two runs apiece, and he was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. That was the last run Hammel would allow; the righty went 5⅔ innings, giving up four hits and four walks while recording five strikeouts.
Though Baltimore managed eight hits off Sabathia, the southpaw wriggled out of trouble multiple times, striking out seven in the process. It was the ace’s longest career outing in the postseason.
With the score still tied heading to the top of the ninth, Orioles manager Buck Showalter brought in Jim Johnson. Russell Martin greeted the righty with a leadoff homer, and the game went downhill for Baltimore. Johnson allowed Raul Ibanez, Jeter, and Suzuki to reach base before recording his first out of the inning. Robinson Cano lined a double to left field to plate a pair of runs, putting the Yankees up 6-2, before Showalter summoned Tommy Hunter from the bullpen. Nick Swisher’s sac fly tacked on New York’s seventh run, before Teixeira ended the inning on a groundout.
Sabathia allowed out a two-out double in the ninth inning, and with the lefty’s pitch count at 120, manager Joe Girardi brought David Robertson in to record the game’s final out.
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