Five of the top six Yankee hitters in the order went deep tonight. Gerrit Cole wasn’t great, but he lowered his ERA and held his own after leaving last week’s start against the Blue Jays with hamstring tightness. Sal Romano was terrible in the ninth, but it didn’t matter, as the Yankees played exactly how they should against a team like the Orioles, winning the series opener, 7-2.
The Yankees, of course, had entered the season just 9-7 against Baltimore, a major reason why they’re still clawing for a postseason slot rather than comfortably sorting out the deployment of the rotation with October in mind.