BALTIMORE — It took one inning for the Baltimore Orioles to show a national audience what all the fuss is about.
Adam Frazier hit a three-run homer as part of a seven-run first for Baltimore, and the Orioles went on to a 9-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday night. It was the first time ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball was at Camden Yards since 2018 - a reward of sorts for a Baltimore team that has the best record in the American League.
The Orioles took two of three in the series, which included a sellout Saturday and a crowd of 37,429 on Sunday.
“The crowds have been unbelievable this weekend,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We really appreciate the energy in the ballpark and how much our fans have showed up this weekend to support us, and drowned out the Yankees’ fans. So that’s been great, to see the energy in the ballpark.”
The Orioles led 6-0 before they even made an out against Luis Severino (2-5), and the win kept Baltimore 1 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay atop the AL East. The Yankees are 3 1/2 behind the last playoff spots in the AL after missing a chance to gain on Houston and Toronto.
Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson hit consecutive singles to start the bottom of the first, and Anthony Santander followed with an RBI double. Ryan O’Hearn then doubled home two more runs.
PHOTOS: Orioles score 7 runs in 1st inning, pound the Yankees 9-3 to stay 1 1/2 games up in AL East
After a walk to Austin Hays, Frazier hit a drive to right field that gave the Orioles a six-run lead after six batters. Rutschman added an RBI single to make it 7-0.
“We found a couple holes early, and then it just kind of snowballed from there,” Frazier said. “We’re capable of that any night, just need to make it happen more often.”
Severino gave the Yankees a couple of scoreless innings after that but was pulled in the fourth after a run-scoring double by Henderson and an RBI single by O’Hearn made it 9-2.
Severino allowed nine runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings as his ERA rose to 7.49.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer couldn’t make it through five innings, so Mike Baumann (8-0) was credited with the win. After Baltimore’s big first inning, Kremer retired Kyle Higashioka on a bases-loaded grounder for the third out of the second.
Jake Bauers homered leading off the third for New York, then hit an RBI double in the fourth. Harrison Bader hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 9-3.
Rutschman had three hits and a walk.
Anthony Rizzo had five of New York’s 18 strikeouts at the plate.
FALSE ALARM
Orioles rookie infielder Jordan Westburg - the game’s No. 30 prospect according to MLB Pipeline - was taken out of the game after the fifth inning. That caused a stir, with the trade deadline coming up Tuesday, but Hyde said he just wanted to change the defensive lineup. The move enabled Frazier to move from left field to his normal position of second base.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Star slugger Aaron Judge had the night off after homering Saturday in his second game back from a toe injury.
UP NEXT
The Yankees return home to face Tampa Bay on Monday night. Domingo Germán (5-7) starts for New York against Tyler Glasnow (4-3).
The Orioles play at Toronto, with Baltimore’s Kyle Gibson (9-6) up against Chris Bassitt (10-5).
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