Yankees 7, Orioles 2
BALTIMORE -- Russell Martin hit a tiebreaking homer in the ninth inning to start a five-run rally that gave the New York Yankees a 7-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of an American League Division Series on Sunday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played Monday night in Camden Yards. The series then will shift to New York for Game 3 on Wednesday. If Games 4 and/or 5 are needed, they'll also take place at Yankee Stadium.
Sunday's game had been tied at 2-2 since the fourth inning when Martin sent a 2-0 fastball from Baltimore closer Jim Johnson over the left field fence to start the top of the ninth.
Johnson set a club record with 51 saves this season, and he closed out the Orioles' 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night in the AL wild-card game.
After the Martin homer, Raul Ibanez singled and went to third on a Derek Jeter single. Eduardo Nunez then pinch-ran for Ibanez and scored on Ichiro Suzuki's infield single to give New York a 4-2 lead.
Robinson Cano later lined a two-run double to left to put the Yankees on top 6-2. Cano moved to third on J.J. Hardy's throwing error on the relay and scored on a Nick Swisher sacrifice fly against Tommy Hunter.
Johnson gave up five runs on five hits in one-third of an inning.
CC Sabathia went 8 2/3 innings for the Yankees to earn the win. The left-hander struck out seven and allowed the two runs on eight hits. Yankees reliever David Robertson struck out Ryan Flaherty for the final out with a runner on second base.
Both teams created and wasted numerous scoring chances. The Yankees left two runners on in the fourth, sixth and seventh without getting a run. Baltimore stranded two runners in both the fifth and sixth innings and left Hardy at second following his leadoff double in the eighth.
The Yankees didn't need much time to take the lead. Jeter led off the game with a seeing-eye single to center. He then scored all the way from first when Ichiro lined a double into the gap in left-center to put New York on top 1-0.
Ichiro then tried to steal third, but Orioles catcher Matt Wieters threw him out. That seemed to help starter Jason Hammel settle down, as Hammel retired the next two batters to get out of the inning.
The Orioles took the lead with a two-run third inning. Chris Davis and Lew Ford started the inning with back-to-back singles. Robert Andino's sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third.
Nate McLouth then lined a two-run single to right for a 2-1 Baltimore lead.
The Yankees tied it in the fourth when Alex Rodriguez walked and later scored on a Mark Teixeira single. Teixeira lined a shot off the right field scoreboard, but Davis grabbed the rebound barehanded and threw a strike to second to get Teixeira.
NOTES: Rain forced the start of the game to be delayed for two hours, 26 minutes. ... This was the first home playoff game for the Orioles since they dropped a 1-0 decision to the Cleveland Indians in Game 6 of the 1997 AL Championship Series. ... Hammel was making his first start since Sept. 11, as he'd been nursing a right knee injury. ... The Yankees won the American League East championship for the 13th time in the last 17 years. ... This is just the second season Ichiro has been in the playoffs. The other time was with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, and he had a .421 postseason average that year.
