Orioles 4, Yankees 2
BALTIMORE -- Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Nate McLouth hit solo homers in the first three innings, and the Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees with a 4-2 victory Sunday night at Camden Yards.
Machado homered in the first, and Davis gave the Orioles the lead for good with his shot in the second. McLouth added another in the third, all off New York starter Hiroki Kuroda (7-6) to give the Orioles (47-36) a fourth straight win.
Kuroda pitched six-plus innings, retiring 11 of 12 batters in the middle innings, but the early home runs proved too much for the injury-riddled Yankees lineup to overcome.
New York (42-39) has lost five straight games.
Orioles starter Chris Tillman (10-2) bounced back after some early problems to go six innings for his seventh straight win. Tillman gave up two runs on five hits. He walked in a run in the second and gave up a solo homer to Robinson Cano in the sixth that cut Baltimore's lead to 3-2.
Darren O'Day escaped a seventh-inning jam for the Orioles before Baltimore pushed across an insurance run in the bottom half. Matt Wieters led off with a single and went to third on J.J. Hardy's double. One out later, Wieters scored when Brian Roberts hit a sacrifice fly off Boone Logan for a 4-2 lead.
Troy Patton and Tommy Hunter combined to take care of the eighth for the Orioles before Jim Johnson closed it despite hitting one batter and giving up a double. He earned his 28th save of the season and the 100th of his career.
The Orioles took an early 1-0 lead when Machado hit a solo homer off Kuroda. Machado, who hadn't homered since May 5, sent a 2-1 pitch into the left field seats.
New York tied it in the second. Zoilo Almonte led off with a single and went to third on Chris Stewart's two-out single. Tillman then walked David Adams to load the bases and walked Brett Gardner to force in the tying run.
Davis put the Orioles in front a few minutes later. He crushed a 2-1 pitch from Kuroda into the seats in left to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead. That was his 31st homer this season, a team record for homers before the All-Star break.
McLouth had a big third inning to help the Orioles. First, the left fielder threw out Travis Hafner trying to stretch a single into a double in the top of the inning. Then, he hit a solo homer in the bottom half to make it 3-1.
NOTES: The Orioles reinstated Roberts from the 60-day disabled list before the game and designated RHP Jair Jurrjens for assignment. Roberts injured his hamstring in the season's third game, later had surgery and had been out since. Jurrjens was recalled Saturday, and he pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief that day in his second big-league appearance of the year. ... According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Davis is the first player in history to amass 30 homers and 25 doubles by the end of June. ... Stewart, the Yankees' catcher, was shaken up when he got hit by the bat on an Adam Jones backswing in the first inning. Stewart was down for a few moments but recovered and stayed in the game. ... Kuroda had never allowed more than two homers in a game before Sunday.
