BALTIMORE — All the Yankees needed to get their offense going was a little help from Mother Nature.
The Yankees were stuck in another game where they couldn’t seem to get a run and were two runs behind the Orioles with Aaron Judge at plate when a hailstorm stopped play for almost an hour.
When play resumed, the Yankees quickly broke out to a 5-2 four-run win at Camden Yards on Saturday.
Josh Donaldson provided the big hit, a two-barrel shot that gave the Yankees the lead as the fifth straight hitter to reach base in the inning — a day after 13 straight hitters were abandoned.
“Perhaps [the delay] gave us air [to say] ‘All right, let’s get back under control,'” Donaldson said. “We believe in this lineup and we have the opportunity to score a lot of runs as quickly as we did tonight.”
It had been a similar story for the Yankees, who were knocked out in the first four innings by right-hander Tyler Wells, who gave up four runs and busted in the second inning in his first career start last Sunday against the Rays.
Josh Donaldson points to the crowd after hitting a two-run go-head homer in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 5-2 win over the Orioles. The blast came after play resumed after a hailstorm delay (left).Twitter/@baseballisdead_; AP
Aaron Hicks led the game into the shift to the left side of the infield with a ground ball single. Aaron Judge followed up with a single to center as the game’s first two batsmen caught the Yankees for the second straight year.
They failed to capitalize on Friday and did the same on Saturday.
With Anthony Rizzo – currently their top hitter – at the plate, Hicks was caught trying to take third place again in one shift with Baltimore. Wells’ shot at third baseman Ramon Urias was timely.
After Rizzo grounded, Giancarlo Stanton flew to the right.
In three innings, the Yankees were 0-to-6 with runners in goal position and fell behind on a two-barreled homer by Cedric Mullins, who turned a 3-0 error by Jameson Taillon for a 433-foot homer.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa is tagged on the plate by Anthony Bemboom after attempting to score from a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ Win.AP
The Yankees’ offense finally woke up in the fifth after the hail delay.
With an out and Hicks first thanks to a walk before the delay, Judge worked on a walk against new pitcher Travis Lakins Sr.
Rizzo then came through with a single to the right which Hicks scored to make it 2-1.
Stanton followed with a booming double to the center wall. It spurred judges to tie the game. Third base coach Luis Rojas sent on Rizzo and he was kicked out thanks to a strong throw from shortstop Jorge Mateo at home.
But the collapsing Donaldson crushed a two-run homer down the middle to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
“We trust the guys in this locker room and what we’re doing up there,” Donaldson said. “It seemed like the guys had more control, which led to our success.”
Taillon came back to pitch the bottom of the fifth and immediately delivered a deep fly ball to Rougned Odor, a single to Hays and another ball to the lane to Mateo before Anthony Bemboom went on four pitches to close his night break up.
Left-hander JP Sears faced left-handers Mullins in Sears’ second MLB appearance. He went to Mullins to load the loaded bases but caused Urias to fly out to the right.
The Yankees extended the Yankees lead in a wild Top of the Six when they knocked out Lakins with an Isiah Kiner-Falefa single and a Jose Trevino double. With infield, Hicks landed short and Kiner-Falefa was home out. The judge follows, using the catcher’s interference to load bases for Rizzo. A wild shot by Paul Fry hit Trevino in third place to make it 5:2.
Sears went with two ons and two outs in the sixth, replaced by Michael King, who accompanied Hays on four pitches to load bases for Mateo.
King recovered to make Mateo swing. Clay Holmes made the last four outs for the save.