MLB

Yankees defeat Orioles; Kuroda stars

Across the first month of the season, you wouldn’t have liked the Yankees’ chances when they didn’t hit.

Their rotation was among baseball’s worst and not even a powerful bullpen was enough some nights.

Yet, on the last day of April on a cool Bronx evening, Hiroki Kuroda made the most out of two runs and helped the Yankees to a 2-1 victory over the Orioles in front of 36,890 at Yankee Stadium.

BOX SCORE

Kuroda, who had two good starts and two stinkers in his first four outings with the Yankees, allowed a run on four hits and made the play of the night when he tagged Nick Markakis out at the plate to end the seventh inning and preserve the one-run lead.

“I didn’t think the ball was that far away, but Hiroki was really quick and gave me a nice target,’’ said catcher Russell Martin, whose flip allowed Kuroda to make the tag.

Not only did each team have trouble scoring, neither threatened much, going 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position. The Orioles’ run came via a sacrifice fly by Chris Davis in the second inning.

“I thought he pitched effectively inside and his slider was good,’’ Joe Girardi said of Kuroda (2-3), whose second straight solid start provided hope the Yankees have a productive arm in the second or third slot behind CC Sabathia. “He attacked the zone all night and was effective.’’

In addition to making the big play at home to keep the Yankees ahead, Kuroda induced Wilson Betemit to bang into an inning-ending 6-3 double play in the second when the Orioles had runners on first and second and no outs but scored only a run.

Eric Chavez, who reached the third deck in right field during batting practice, carried the power show into the game with a towering two-run homer off Jason Hammel that landed deep in the Yankees’ bullpen in the second.

The only other scoring threat the Yankees put together was in the sixth, when they had runners at the corners and Raul Ibanez hit into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

David Robertson’s brilliant April continued when he fanned Betemit, Mark Reynolds and Robert Andino in the eighth. In 11 innings, Robertson has 18 strikeouts, three walks and has allowed seven hits.

Mariano Rivera worked around a one-out single by J.J. Hardy in the ninth and posted his fifth save when Derek Jeter turned Markakis’ grounder into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter wasn’t overly impressed by Kuroda’s performance.

“We hit eight balls right on the button,’’ he said. “We centered him up quite a bit, but the left fielder made a couple of good plays.’’

That would be Eduardo Nunez, who started in left for the first time. Prior to the game, Girardi said it was hard to evaluate Nunez, an infielder, in the outfield because when he played out there in spring training, balls weren’t hit to him.

That changed immediately as he fielded two liners in the first inning, Davis’ sacrifice fly to the warning track in the second, a soft liner in the third and a battled a knuckleball in the fifth.

“When the first ball of the game came to me, I thought it was going to be a long night,’’ said Nunez, who went 0-for-3 at the plate. “I wasn’t nervous but I didn’t want to rush anything.’’