Robinson Cano hit a grand slam in a seven-run third inning, and New York sent Zach Britton to another shellacking at Yankee Stadium in a 12-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday that stopped a four-game losing streak.
With Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on hand and sitting with the Bleacher Creatures at the start, Derek Jeter had three hits and three RBIs on a rainy afternoon and Joba Chamberlain returned from elbow and ankle injuries that had sidelined him since June 5 last season. Phil Hughes (11-8) pitched homerless ball for only the fifth time this year.
A night after wasting a five-run, first-inning lead in an 11-5 defeat, New York won for just the fourth time in 13 games and restored a 6½-game lead in the AL East. The Yankees avoided what would have been their first five-game losing streak this year.
In his first outing at Yankee Stadium, Britton (1-1) retired just one batter during a 12-run first inning in a 17-3 loss last July 30. He got a no-decision in September and allowed seven runs over 2 2-3 innings in this one, leaving him with a 24.00 ERA in the Bronx.
Hughes allowed nine hits but just one run in six innings, and Chamberlain entered to a big ovation in the seventh, healed from ligament-replacement surgery on his right elbow and an operation on his right ankle that followed a spring-training trampoline accident.
J.J. Hardy homered on Chamberlain’s second pitch, and Endy Chavez hit an RBI double in the eighth. Chamberlain threw 28 pitches, allowing four hits and one walk.
Ichiro Suzuki played his first game in left field for the Yankees, who acquired him from Seattle on July 23, and made a leaping catch of Mark Reynolds’ drive near the top of the wall in the sixth.
Casey McGehee made his Yankees debut, a day after he was obtained from Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. His beard shaved off to comply with team rules, McGehee started at first base and went 0 for 2 with two walks, two runs and an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.
Sotomayor, a Bronx native, joined the Bleacher Creatures for their first-inning Roll Call, and it didn’t take the Yankees long to move in front.
Curtis Granderson hit his 29th homer in the first and Andruw Jones added a sacrifice fly. Chavez had an RBI groundout in the second, and RBI singles by Jeter and Nick Swisher opened a 4-1 lead in the bottom half.
Jayson Nix’s RBI double chased Britton in the third as rain started to fall, and Jeter greeted Kevin Gregg with a two-run single. Cano, in a 1-for-17 slide entering the series finale, hit a drive to right for his second slam this season and the ninth of his career.
NOTES: Baltimore’s Matt Wieters started behind the plate in a day game after catching a night game for the third time this year.