Yankees Overcome Eight Run Deficit To Defeat Orioles In Friday Night Slugfest

The Yankees and Orioles combined for eight home runs on Friday night but the Bronx Bombers outscored Baltimore 13-2 after the sixth inning to win their third consecutive game, 14-11, in extra innings.

The Orioles roughed up Yankees veteran CC Sabathia, who allowed nine hits, seven earned runs, and two walks in 5.2 innings. Baltimore’s stud third baseman, Manny Machado, accounted for most of that damage with a two-run double in the third and a 470-foot home run to center field in the fifth — the longest home run hit at Yankee Stadium in the Statcast era and longest of the 2017 season.

Manny Machado hits the farthest home run of 2017 pic.twitter.com/pDo56pBa2z

— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) April 29, 2017

Sabathia exited in the sixth after allowing back-to-back two-out singles to Joey Rickard and Adam Jones. Bryan Mitchell came on in relief and loaded the bases with two outs before allowing a Mark Trumbo grand slam, which gave Baltimore a sizeable 9-1 cushion. Two of the runs on Trumbo’s slam were charged to Sabathia, whose ERA now sits at 4.34.

However, the Yankees started a comeback in the bottom half of the inning: Matt Holliday, who doubled to leadoff the frame, came around to score on a RBI groundout by Didi Gregorious — who made his season debut on Friday after missing most of April with a shoulder injury. Then, Aaron Judge came up with a runner on base and hit his second homer of the night, a 435-foot laser that registered a 119.4 mph exit velocity, the hardest hit home run in Statcast history, snapping Giancarlo Stanton’s record of 119.2 mph.

Aaron Judge is ridiculous. 435 feet, 119 mph off the bat. #AllRise #Yankees pic.twitter.com/FErc6u3VjY

— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) April 29, 2017

Judge’s two blasts gives him nine this month, making him the second Yankee age 25 or younger to reach nine or more HRs in the team’s first 21 games of a season (Mickey Mantle, 11 HRs in 1956), per MLB Stat of the Day

Still, the Yankees trailed 9-4 entering the seventh and the deficit expanded to 11-4 after a two-run single from Jonathan Schoop. The Bombers stayed true to their name in bottom half of the inning as Ellsbury launched a grand slam into the right-field bleachers, cutting the deficit to 11-8 on his 100th career round-tripper.

The score stayed unchanged until the ninth when the Yankees completed their improbable comeback. Chase Headley (walk) and Holliday (single) put runners on the corners with nobody out before an Ellsbury force out brought Headley home, bringing the Yankees within two runs.

Then, Castro hit the first pitch he saw from Orioles’ closer, Brad Brach, into the left-field bleachers to knot the game 11. Per ESPN Stats & Info, it was Castro’s third career game-tying or go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later.

After Sabathia and Mitchell combined to permit 11 Orioles runs, the trio of Ben Holder, Tyler Clippard, and Aroldis Chapman (1-0, 1.08 ERA) combined to throw 3.2 innings of shutout baseball.

The Yankees sealed their 14th win of the season in the 10th inning: After Aaron Hicks and Kyle Higashioka drew leadoff walks, Headley struck out, which brought Holliday to the plate. The Yankees veteran slugger took a first-pitch changeup from Orioles reliever Jayson Aquino (1-1, 7.11 ERA) and drove it over the right center field fence into the team’s bullpen for a three-run walk-off home run.

#Yankees entraron la 6ta entrada perdiendo 9 a 1 y ganaron en la 10ma con “WalkOffHR” d Matt Holliday (3) #MGLD pic.twitter.com/8h0ysSmEJb

— MeGustanLosDeportes (@GustanDeportes) April 29, 2017

Bedlam in the Bronx ensued as Holliday’s game-ending shot put the Yankees and Orioles in a tie for first place in the American League East.

[Featured Image by Adam Hunger/Getty Images]