Yankees leaning toward left vs. Garcia (we're tied)

The Yankees have seven left-handed hitters in tonight's lineup against Orioles right-hander Freddy Garcia. Somebody has been reading the splits. Left-handers were batting .333 against Garcia heading into the game. Right-handers were batting .156. Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano wasn't going to dispute the numbers. He homered to the opposite field with one out in the top of the first inning to give the visitors an early lead. Third baseman David Adams ignored the splits. Batting from the right side, Adams hit his first major league home run with one out in the second inning to increase New York's lead to 2-0. Cano's 13th homer came on an 87 mph sinker. Adams' homer came on a 71 mph curveball. Garcia has allowed six homers in four starts and 18 1/3 innings. Garcia struck out Lyle Overbay on an 81 mph changeup to end the first inning and Reid Brignac on the same pitch to end the second. Garcia's career splits aren't as lopsided. Left-handers were batting .261 and right-handers were batting .253. Catcher Austin Romine are the only other Yankees in tonight's lineup who hits from the right side. The Yankees are 18-0 when scoring first, an American League record and the most since the 1992 New York Mets also started out 18-0. Note: The Orioles signed catcher Ronnie Paulino to a minor league contract, according to Baseball America's Matt Eddy. The Mariners released Paulino on March 30. He broke camp as the Orioles' backup catcher last season while Taylor Teagarden was on the disabled list and batted .254/.266/.302 in 20 games. Update: Chris Davis homered in the second inning to reduce the Yankees' lead to 2-1. Davis has 13 homers and 40 RBIs this season. More on Paulino: He will report to extended spring training before being assigned to an affiliate. Update II: Freddy Garcia has retired 10 of the last 11 batters, but the Orioles continue to trail 2-1. Garcia retired eight in a row before Adams singled leading off the fifth. Ichiro Suzuki popped up and Brignac grounded into a 3-6-1 double play. Garcia has allowed two runs and three hits in five innings, with no walks, two strikeouts and two home runs. He's thrown 50 pitches, 36 for strikes. If only the Orioles could get their bats out of deep freeze. Two runs in the last two games. Update III: Make it three runs in the last two games. Steve Pearce doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and he scored the tying run with one out on Nick Markakis' single up the middle. The Orioles were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position before Markakis' ground ball into center field. J.J. Hardy doubled with two outs, but Adam Jones bounced to third. The Orioles are outhitting the Yankees 7-3 through the fifth inning.



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