Trent Grisham’s offensive outburst propels Yankees past Orioles
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BALTIMORE — The Yankees lineup was mostly a no-show again Tuesday night.
Luckily for them, Trent Grisham didn’t get the memo.
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The center fielder was a one-man offense in a 3-1 win, as he drove in all three runs with a solo homer and a two-run single.
The rest of the Aaron Judge/Cody Bellinger-less batting order was mostly nonexistent, but the return of Carlos Rodón and the bullpen made up for it.
Grisham homered in the third and came through with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh.
After pinch hitter Amed Rosario struck out to bring up Grisham, the left-handed bat fell behind 0-2 against lefty Josh Walker before coming through with a base hit to center to put the Yankees up for good.
“Stay in the fight,” Grisham said of his mindset after the first two pitches of the at-bat.
It paid off, as the recently surging Grisham continued his improved production.
Rodón, on a pitch count in his return from an IL stint due to elbow inflammation, pitched well for four innings in his first start since June 28.
The lefty gave up just one run in four innings before being pulled after 66 pitches.
He might have made another rehab start if Max Fried didn’t land on the IL with another elbow bone bruise.
Five relievers combined for five scoreless innings, as the Yankees won their second straight after dropping three in a row.
Rodón’s lone mistake came with two outs in the third, when Coby Mayo took him deep to left field to tie the game 1-1.
At that point, the Yankees lineup was about as productive as it’s been since Judge went down with a fractured rib.
Against right-hander Shane Baz, six of the first seven Yankees hitters whiffed, and they didn’t get a hit until Grisham hit his 17th homer of the season with two outs in the top of the third to give them a 1-0 lead.
By the time Baz left with two on and one out in the seventh, he’d struck out a season-high 10 batters.
The Yankees threatened in the fifth, as George Lombard Jr. singled through the right side of the infield with one out and Ryan McMahon walked.
But with runners on first and second, Austin Wells popped out and Grisham flied to left to keep the game tied.
Rodón did well to keep the Orioles to just the one run in his outing, as he wasn’t helped by Jazz Chisholm Jr. — or second base umpire Ryan Additon — in the second.
With runners on first and second and one out, Rodón got Christian Franklin to hit a seemingly routine ground ball toward second.
But Additon appeared to block Chisholm’s view of the ball momentarily and the second baseman couldn’t handle the grounder.
Instead of a potential inning-ending double play, everyone was safe.
Rodón struck out Carlos Narváez and then got Jackson Holliday looking, as Wells challenged a ball call for the third strike.
The lead provided by Grisham held up even after Brent Headrick allowed the first two batters to reach in the seventh.
The lefty retired the next two batters before Fernando Cruz entered and got Pete Alonso on a liner to right to end the threat.
