Kyle Gibson Defeated In Game 2 Bloodbath

Kyle Gibson, the starting pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, was ambushed by the Yankees, who went back-to-back-to-back en route to a five-run first inning. Gibson had not pitched in nine days, and the rust showed. The Yankees ambushed Gibson in the very first inning. That said, Gibson has six different pitches. What good it did for him. The Yankees hit three home runs on the first three pitches. How many did the Yankees score tonight?

Lineups: Kyle Gibson Ambushed

The Baltimore Orioles had Cedric Mullins batting first and playing center field. Heston Kjerstad replaced him in the seventh inning. Adley Rutschman batted second and was the catcher. Maverick Handley made his major league debut, replacing Rutschman in the sixth inning. Gunnar Henderson was the shortstop and batted third. Jackson Holliday replaced him in the seventh inning and played second base.

Ryan Mountcastle was the designated hitter and batted fourth. Ramon Lauerano was the right fielder and was batting fifth. Ramon Urias was the third baseman and batted sixth. Emmanuel Rivera was the first baseman and batted seventh.  Jorge Mateo was the second baseman and batted eighth. He moved to shortstop in the seventh inning. Dylan Carlson was the left fielder and batted ninth. He moved to center field in the seventh inning.

For the Yankees, Trent Grisham led off and was the center fielder. Aaron Judge batted second and was the right fielder. Pablo Reyes pinch-ran for him in the seventh inning. Ben Rice was the designated hitter and batted third. Paul Goldschmidt was the first baseman and batted fourth. JC Escarra replaced him in the eighth inning. Cody Bellinger was the left fielder and batted fifth.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. was the second baseman and batted sixth. Oswald Peraza replaced him in the first inning. Anthony Volpe was the shortstop and batted seventh. Austin Wells was the catcher batting eighth, and Oswaldo Cabrera was the third baseman batting ninth.

Scoring Summary: Yanks Defeat Orioles In Game 2

Grisham hit a solo home run on the second pitch of the game in the first inning off Gibson. That gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. On the next pitch,  Judge hit a solo home run. That gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Then, Rice hit a home run on the second pitch of his at-bat. That gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Then Bellinger hit a home run, and it was 4-0 Yankees. Volpe then hit a double, and Peraza scored. That gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

In the second inning, Rice hit another home run, and the Yankees took a 6-0 lead. They were killing Gibson. In the fourth inning, the Yankees scored three more runs. First, Goldschmidt singled, and Aaron Judge scored. That made the score 7-0 Yankees. Then Peraza singled and drove in two runs when Rice and Goldschmidt scored. It was now 9-0 Yankees.

In the fifth inning, Goldschmidt singled in Cabrera. Then Bellinger hit a two-run double, and both Judge and Rice scored. The score was 12-0 Yankees. The Orioles broke the shutout in the sixth inning on an RBI groundout. Carson grounded out, and Rivera scored. It was 12-1 Yankees.

The Yankees got that run right back in the seventh inning as Henderson made an error on a ground ball by Volpe, and Paul Goldschmidt scored. That extended the Yankees’ lead to 13-1. In the 7th inning, Henderson hit an angry home run, cutting the Yankees’ lead to 13-2. In the eighth inning, Reyes got into the act. Cabrera scored. That made it 14-2 Yankees. In the ninth inning, Wells got his first hit of the game, a solo home run. That gave the Yankees a 15-2 lead. Mountcastle hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. Kjerstad scored, and that cut the Yankees’ lead to 15-3.

Game Notes

The weather was much warmer today than it was yesterday. At game time, it was 83 degrees Fahrenheit. It was partly cloudy at the start of the game. Then it got dark out. The Yankees were the second-highest-scoring offense in Major League Baseball coming into the game. They roughed up Gibson and greeted him rudely.

This game marked the second time this season that the Yankees hit back to back to back home runs to begin a game. They are the first team in MLB history to do that. Chisholm Jr. seemed to be in some pain, but he doubled and advanced to third base on an error. He left the game and was replaced by Peraza.

The Orioles needed relief pitchers and brought in a starter, Charlie Morton, to pitch in the fifth inning. Gibson let them down. Yankee starter Carlos Rodon was perfect through 5 innings. He wasted that effort with such great run support. He blew the perfect game by walking the lead-off hitter in the sixth inning. He gave up the no-hitter in the next at-bat, surrendering a double to Mateo. Volpe made two stellar defensive plays on Ramon Laureano. Those defensive plays preserved, at the time, the no-hitter. The Yankees had 19 hits and 6 home runs in the offensive onslaught.

Conclusion

This game was a bloodbath with the Yankees winning by such a lopsided margin. Hidden by the Yankees’ offensive onslaught was Rodon, pitching outstanding for the Yankees for the third start in a row. He was perfect through five innings. Rodon was very good, though he was removed after pitching 6 innings after giving up a home run to Henderson.