BALTIMORE — When the big ticket arm hurls a gem and the muscular cleanup hitter flexes thick muscles, the results are staggering.
With CC Sabathia dominating the Orioles as usual and backed by an Alex Rodriguez grand slam and four other homers, the Yankees cruised to a 15-3 victory in front of 39,054 last night at Camden Yards.
“When I looked up there and saw no hits in the fourth I was thinking this could be a special night,” Mark Teixeira said of Sabathia retiring the first 11 hitters.
Working with the leftovers of a stomach virus and flu-like germs lingering in his colossal body, Sabathia (1-1) allowed three runs, six hits and fanned seven over eight innings. It’s the longest outing by a Yankees starter this year.
“I felt like [garbage on Friday],” said Sabathia, who benefited from an extra day of rest when Friday night’s game was washed out. He is 15-2 against the O’s.
“I slept all day and got fluids. It [rainout] definitely helped,” the lefty said.
So did the five homers.
Rodriguez knocked in six runs, four of which came on his 22nd career grand slam in a seven-run eighth inning. Rodriguez is one behind Lou Gehrig on the all-time slam list.
“It’s exciting and I appreciate the moment,” said Rodriguez, who also made a barehanded play on Vladimir Guerrero’s slow roller in the second. “I have grown to appreciate it and not just brush it off like in the past.”
The six RBIs hiked his career total to 1,847 and moved him into 10th on the all-time list. Finally, the homer was his 618th and pushed him within a dozen to tie Ken Griffey Jr. for fifth on the all-time list.
Russell Martin hit two homers and has six, one more than all of last year and one less than two seasons ago. Martin was drilled in the back by Josh Rupe in his final at-bat, an act the Yankees were convinced was intentional and that possibly was ordered from the Orioles’ dugout.
“It was right at his head,” manager Joe Girardi said.
Staked to a 6-0 lead Sabathia required 55 pitches to get through six innings. The only blemish on the gem surfaced in the seventh when Nick Markakis walked and Derrek Lee, who got the O’s first hit in the fourth, singled to open the frame. After Guerrero whiffed on a filthy slider, Adam Jones hit a three-run, opposite-field homer to right.
“After I gave up the homer they came right back,” Sabathia said of his mates who hit three homers in the seventh.
Jorge Posada, who was in a 1-for-20 funk, homered in front of Martin’s second of the game.
The long ball display upped the Yankees’ MLB-leading total to 34 and that is the most in franchise history after 17 games and was very impressive.
Yet in the big picture pitching always will dominate the conversation because the Yankees have to win the games Sabathia starts due to the many questions that follow him in the rotation. In five Sabathia starts the Yankees are 3-2.
“That’s as good as he has been,” Girardi said of his ace whose change-up and slider baffled the O’s.