The New York Yankees go back to first with a win over the Baltimore Orioles

The New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 8-5 on Friday night. The game took place at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched well and the bullpen was pretty good. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez led the offense. Wei-Yin Chen started for the Orioles and wasn’t very good and their offense was led by Nate McClouth. 
Hughes pitched six innings giving up six hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He won his 14^th game of the season and struck out five with no walks. Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run, Boone Logan pitched a perfect inning and Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one. Rafael Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two strikeouts. Chen lost his ninth game of the season pitching 4 2/3 innings giving up six hits and seven runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Steve Johnson pitched three innings giving up a hit and striking out three, Brian Matusz pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Luis Ayala pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit.

Jeter had three hits and an RBI, Robinson Cano drew a walk and Rodriguez had two hits and two RBI. Russell Martin had a hit and three RBI, Andruw Jones had a hit and Steve Pearce had a hit and two RBI. Ichiro Suzuki had a hit, Martin, Pearce and Rodriguez each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 2-3 with runners in scoring position and left three men on base. Swisher committed an error.

J.J. Hardy had a hit, McClouth had three hits and Adam Jones had a hit and three RBI. Manny Machado had two hits and an RBI and Robert Andino had a hit and an RBI. McClouth hit two doubles and Jones, Andino and Machado each hit a homerun. The Orioles were 1-3 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.

In the fourth Martin hit a three run homerun and Pearce hit a two run homerun to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead. Rodriguez hit a two run homerun in the fifth to push the Yankees lead to 7-0. The Orioles would get on the board in the sixth on a Jones three run homerun. Andino hit a solo homerun in the seventh to cut the lead to 7-4. The Yankees would add a run in the ninth on a Jeter RBI single and Machado hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the ninth to cap the scoring at 8-5 Yankees.

The Yankees and Orioles have split the first two games of this four game series. The Yankees are one game ahead in the American League East race. The Yankees record improved to 78-60 and the Orioles record dropped to 77-61. The Yankees will try and push their lead to two games on Saturday night with their ace on the mound.