NEW YORK - Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez has faced the minimum number of batters through three innings tonight in his first non-relief appearance since Aug. 20.
Gonzalez has let one ball out of the infield. He also made a nice play to retire Curtis Granderson and end the bottom of the second, racing off the mound to field a bunt against the infield shift and firing across the diamond to first base.
Third baseman Manny Machado had moved to shortstop, with J.J. Hardy sliding over to the right side of second base and Alexi Casilla backing up into shallow right field.
Former Oriole Mark Reynolds lined softly to Casilla in the third inning. It's strange seeing him in Yankees pinstripes and waving his mitt at the bleacher creatures during the traditional roll call.
The only baserunner against Gonzalez came on a one-out walk to Ichiro Suzuki in the third. Catcher Austin Romine grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia has topped Gonzalez so far by retiring all nine Orioles the first time through the order. He struck out Casilla, who's now 16-for-31 against him.
The last pitch looked low to me, but what do I know?
Sabathia is 17-5 with a 3.19 ERA in 28 career starts against the Orioles.
Chris Davis struck out leading off the top of the second. He's got five hits in his last 23 at-bats.
Davis has eight doubles and nine homers in August, making him the only player in baseball history to collect at least seven doubles and nine homers in four different months in the same season - April, May, June and August.
Davis is only the fourth American League player with at least seven doubles and seven homers in four different months in the same season, joining Hank Greenberg (Detroit in 1937), Ted Williams (Boston in 1949) and Troy Glaus (Anaheim in 2000).
Troy Glaus?
One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong.
Earlier today, Nationals manager Davey Johnson offered his opinion of the Michael Morse trade.
"He's a big impact on the lineup. Huge," Johnson told reporters this afternoon at Nats Park.
"At Camden Yards? I shudder to think. That ballpark's made for him. He's that right-center hitter and that's the jet stream. He's a good fit there.
"I think it's great. I'm happy for him. I think it was in the second inning (last night) and Randy Knorr says, 'Morse is not going to Baltimore.' Somebody had talked to Michael Morse and he wasn't making it, the deal wasn't going to go through. Then of course it did go through. There was definitely some interest in the dugout. So, they'll be having karaoke songs and all that over there."
Update: And there goes Sabathia's perfect game and his shutout.
Machado doubled to right field with one out in the fourth, his 46th this season to lead the majors. He moved to third with two outs on a wild pitch and scored on Davis' single to center field.
Davis has 122 RBIs this season.
Update II: And there goes Gonzalez's no-hitter and shutout.
Gonzalez walked Robinson Cano on four pitches with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, and Alfonso Soriano made him pay with a two-run shot to right.
Soriano has 12 homers in 32 games with the Yankees. That's a lot.
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