There were a lot of heroes in a series-opening win at New York

For the third day in a row, the game hung in the balance versus a 2017 playoff team in the seventh inning. This time, the Orioles got the biggest hits and they beat the New York Yankees 5-2 in the Bronx to start a four-game series.

It is probably not overstating it to call that win huge. The offense came to life in the seventh inning and the pitchers held the potent Yankees lineup in check.

Considering that last year the Yankees, as a team, batted .337 and hit 32 homers in 10 home games versus Baltimore pitching, this was a nice change. The O's held New York to two runs on four hits in the victory.

It was an impressive win that obviously needs to be followed up by a few more, but in the last three games, the Orioles have been right there late against the Astros and Yankees, who played each other for the American League title last October.

Adam Jones hit another huge home run. He blasted a Masahiro Tanaka slider in the seventh to score two and give the Orioles a 2-1 lead. Jones has hit three homers and all three have given the Orioles the lead, including his walk-off on opening day.

So, yeah, that is pretty clutch. Over his past four games, Jones is 7-for-16 with two homers and six RBIs. Jones has 24 career homers versus the Yankees and 10 at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles scored five runs in the seventh and had several big at-bats. Two came from Jonathan Schoop and Anthony Santander. Schoop spit on a few close pitches and then singled off Tanaka on the eighth pitch of an at-bat for a leadoff single to start the decisive rally. Later, Santander doubled in a run for a 3-1 lead. He fell behind 1-2 in the count, took two close pitches, fouled off a tough 3-2 slider from Chad Green and then smoked a 94.3 mph fastball. It was an impressive sequence for the youngster. Trey Mancini later followed with a huge two-run single to right to open a 5-1 lead. The Orioles pinned a loss on Tanaka, who allowed three runs over 6 1/3 innings.

On the mound for Baltimore, Andrew Cashner picked up his first win as an Oriole and bounced back beautifully from the three homers he allowed in his first start. Cashner went six innings, allowing just two hits and one run with three walks and five strikeouts. He threw 100 pitches.

Aaron Judge homered against him, but that was the only hit he allowed to the big three. He held Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sánchez to one hit in eight at-bats.

This was Cashner's fourth career start against the Yankees, but first in New York. He is now 2-1 with a 1.73 ERA in those games. In 12 career starts versus the American League East, Cashner is 6-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 11 quality starts. His ERA against the AL East is his lowest versus any division.

The Yankees, who went 8-2 at home against the Orioles last season, are looking to win four straight series against Baltimore. They last did that from Sept. 17, 2010 to July 31, 2011. If the O's win one of the next three games, they will put an end to that stat.

One note on the bullpen from last night is that Mychal Givens threw 26 pitches and Darren O'Day threw 28. Both may be unavailable tonight. Givens has started slowly with an ERA of 6.75 through four games.

On the farm: On opening night on the farm, Harrisburg beat Double-A Bowie 10-9 in 13 innings in a wild game. It was among the first games in affiliated baseball with the new extra-inning rules. Each team now comes to bat with a runner placed at second base to begin the inning starting in the 10th. It produced some scoring last night as Harrisburg and Bowie each scored once in the 10th and 11th and then in the 13th Harrisburg scored four times and Bowie got three to fall a run short.

Cedric Mullins went 2-for-7 and drove in three runs for the Baysox. Catcher Martin Cervenka went 3-for-6 with three RBIs and outfielder Austin Hays went 1-for-6. Starter John Means allowed three runs over five innings.

Single-A Frederick won 6-2 at Myrtle Beach. Lefty Alexander Wells, the Orioles' minor league Pitcher of the Year last season, made his Carolina League debut. Over 4 1/3 innings, he gave up four hits and two runs with one walk and six strikeouts. Wells did not issue a walk in his last 11 starts of 2017 at Single-A Delmarva. Randolph Gassaway knocked in three runs for the Keys.

Frederick native Branden Kline, in his first game since May 2015, pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. Kline had Tommy John surgery in October 2015 and had a few setbacks along the way. Last night, he picked up his first win since he got one for Double-A Bowie on May 4, 2015. I wrote about his comeback during spring training in this story from Twin Lakes Park.

This was Frederick's first win in a season opener since 2014. Ironically, Kline was the winning pitcher in that game, as well.

Single-A Delmarva recorded a win by a shutout on opening day for the third time in four years. The Shorebirds beat Asheville 2-0 as Buck Britton won in his managerial debut. Right-hander Michael Baumann got the victory and fanned 10 over five innings. Baumann, the club's third-round pick last June, went 4-2 with a 1.31 ERA last summer at short-season Single-A Aberdeen. He was the organization's minor league Pitcher of the Month for August, when he went 4-0 with an ERA of 0.70. Shorebirds pitchers fanned 14 and Ryan Ripken went 3-for-3 with an RBI for the winners.

Adam Jones crushes a 2-run homer to put the #Orioles up 2-1! 😮 pic.twitter.com/UQ1vCM3JxD

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) April 6, 2018

Cashner was money tonight. Here's what he had to say after his first start at Yankee Stadium. https://t.co/Eopb7EiqI1 #IBackTheBirds

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) April 6, 2018