Seth Smith hits go-ahead homer, O's beat Yankees to go to 3-0

Sometimes a sac fly will do. But a two-run homer is better. Needing a fly ball to tie this game in the last of the seventh tonight, new Orioles outfielder Seth Smith instead delivered a go-ahead two-run homer.

His first as an Oriole took the club from one run down to one up as they rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Yankees 6-5 in front of 25,248 chilled fans at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have a 3-0 start and New York to falls to 1-3 in dropping the opener of a three-game series.

Down 5-4 and facing Tyler Clippard in the seventh, Jonathan Schoop reached second to start the inning on third baseman Chase Headley's throwing error. After a rare O's sac bunt - this one by J.J. Hardy - Smith delivered the homer for the 6-5 lead. He hit a 2-1 fastball and it just got onto the flag court over the wall in right, 348 feet from the plate.

Earlier, Yankees designated hitter Matt Holliday, who was 2-for-11 with an RBI in New York's first three games, was 2-for-2 with three RBIs by the third inning.

His softly hit RBI single to right gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the first. It scored Brett Gardner, who led of the game with a single and then stole second base. Two batters into the last of first, the Orioles had tied it at 1-1. Smith led off with a double to right (giving him a 2-for-5 start) and scored on Adam Jones' single. Jones' grounder up the first base line gave him his third RBI.

But in the New York third, Gardner singled again and scored on Holliday's two-out, two-run homer off starter Ubaldo Jiménez. Holliday hit a 2-2 splitter 412 feet for the 3-1 lead. It was the first homer allowed on the season by the Orioles.

O's pitching gave up three runs in 20 innings versus Toronto. But tonight they trailed 3-1 in the third.

That got worse and became 5-1 when Gary Sánchez, who hit 20 homers in 201 at-bats last season, hit his first of 2017. His two-run shot off Jiménez in the fifth gave New York the four-run lead. Sanchez had gone 1-for-14 in the Yankees' season-opening three-game series at Tampa Bay.

Oliver Drake replaced Jiménez after the second homer. Jiménez went 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs with one walk and five strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches.

Down 5-1, third baseman Manny Machado got the Orioles back in it. He blasted a three-run homer - his first of the year - to make it a 5-4 game in the fifth. Machado's liner left his bat at 109 mph and traveled 394 feet to left center. It scored Schoop, who had singled, and Jones, who had walked.

The Orioles bullpen pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings today with Zach Britton getting the final three outs for his second save and 51st straight since Oct. 1, 2015. Donnie Hart relieved Darren O'Day and got the final out of the seventh, registering his first major league win, and Brad Brach fanned the side in the eighth.

In the second game of this series on Saturday at 4:05 p.m., Kevin Gausman (0-0, 3.38 ERA) pitches against right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (0-1, 23.63 ERA).