The New York Yankees avoid the sweep as they bash the birds

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 12-3 on Wednesday afternoon. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched pretty well. The Yankees offense really went to work in this game. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano had really good games. Zach Britton started for the Orioles and didn’t pitch very well. J.J. Hardy led the Orioles offense. 
Hughes pitched six innings giving up one run on nine hits. He walked and struck out two batters. Hughes picked up his 11^th win of the season. Joba Chamberlain made his return to the big leagues. He pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up four hits and two runs with a walk. The results might of not been what he wanted but just to be back at this point is an accomplishment. He got the first one out of the way and can now move on. Clay Rapada pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out two and Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out a batter. Britton lost his first game of the season pitching 2 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and seven runs. He walked three and struck out three, Kevin Gregg pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up five hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout, Matt Lindstrom pitched two innings giving up two hits and had a strikeout and Luis Ayala pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit, a run and a walk. Tommy Hunter pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk.

Jeter had three hits and three RBI, Curtis Granderson had two hits and an RBI and Nick Swisher had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Cano had two hits, four RBI and drew a walk, Andruw Jones had a hit and an RBI and Russell Martin had a hit and drew two walks. McGehee drew two walks and had an RBI, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and Jayson Nix had three hits and an RBI. Swisher and Nix each had a double and Granderson and Cano each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 7-13 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Nick Markakis had a hit, Hardy had three hits and an RBI and Chris Davis had a hit. Adam Jones had two hits, Matt Wieters had two hits and Wilson Betemit had two hits and drew a walk. Mark Reynolds had a hit and drew a walk, Endy Chavez had a hit and two RBI and Omar Quintanilla drew a walk. Hardy, Reynols and Chavez each hit a double and Hardy hit a homerun. The Orioles were 0-15 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Wieters had a passed ball.

Granderson hit a solo homerun and Jones a sacrifice fly in the first inning. The Yankees had a 2-0 lead and Chavez hit an RBI groundout in the second to make it 2-1. Jeter and Swisher each hit an RBI single to make it 4-1 in the second inning. In the third the Yankees really broke it open. Nix hit an RBI double, Jeter had a two run single and Cano hit a grand slam. It was 11-1 Yankees at this point and they were well on their way to a victory. In the seventh Hardy hit a solo homerun to make it 11-2, in the eighth Chavez hit an RBI double to make it 11-3 and in the bottom of the eighth McGehee hit a sacrifice fly to make it 12-3.

The Yankees lost two out of three in the series but have a seven game lead in the loss column for first place in the division. The Yankees will have an off day on Thursday and then play a three game weekend series against the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees record improved to 61-43 and the Orioles record dropped to 55-50.