The Yankees have hit four home runs tonight to account for all seven of their runs. Three of them came against left-hander Brian Matusz.
Their ability to go deep has prevented Matusz from doing the same. He's done after 5 1/3 innings.
Robinson Cano just broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth with a two-run shot to left, and Nick Swisher followed with a shot to left that forced manager Buck Showalter to go to his bullpen.
Andruw Jones greeted reliever Chris Jakubauskas with a home run, the first time that New York has gone back-to-back-to-back since May 20, 2009 against the Orioles.
Matusz had retired nine in a row since Curtis Granderson's three-run homer in the third before Mark Teixeira grounded a single past shortstop J.J. Hardy with one out in the sixth. Cano followed with his 23rd homer, and Swisher followed with his 20th.
That's the seventh time this season that the Yankees have gone back-to-back.
Matusz is charged with six runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with two walks and five strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches, 61 for strikes.
Matusz's velocity was up, but so were his pitches. He had trouble keeping the ball down. His ERA is up to 9.07.
Update: Granderson homered again, this one off left-hander Mark Hendrickson, to extend the Yankees' lead to 8-3. Granderson has 38 home runs this season, and four multi-homer games.
Update II: The Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth on J.J. Hardy's single, Nick Markakis' walk and Adam Jones' single. Reliever David Robertson issued the walk to Jones after replacing Ivan Nova.
The Orioles were down, 8-3, but they had a chance to get back in this game.
Then it disappeared.
Vladimir Guerrero struck out after swinging at a pitch that bounced well in front of the plate. Robertson could have rolled the ball up there. I know Guerrero is a bad-ball hitter, but that one was downright disgusting.
Mark Reynolds and Ryan Adams also struck out to leave the bases loaded and leave the Orioles down by five runs.
Not one of the club's finest moments.
Tonight's attendance: 37,528
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