RALPH D. RUSSO
Cumberland Times-News
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NEW YORK — Jake Arrieta pitched efficiently into the seventh inning, Adam Jones had a two-run single in a three-run first and the Baltimore Orioles denied their nemesis, CC Sabathia, his 20th victory with a 6-2 win Tuesday night over the New York Yankees.
Buoyed by five early runs, Arrieta earned his second win in 10 starts, helping Baltimore clinch its second straight series win against the top two teams in the AL East. The Orioles took two of three games from Tampa Bay last weekend. Winners of four in a row, they can complete their first three-game sweep in the Bronx in 24 years on Wednesday.
Last-place Baltimore is 21-13 under Buck Showalter, who managed the Yankees from 1992-95.
Sabathia (19-6) came in 4-0 this season and 13-1 overall against the Orioles, but the big lefty was off his form from the start in the Yankees’ third straight loss.
He gave up four hits, three runs and a walk before getting an out, then allowed a long two-run homer to Nolan Reimold with two outs in the third. The loss ended Sabathia’s streak of 21 starts at Yankee Stadium without a defeat. He had been 16-0 since early July 2009.
Brian Roberts led off with a single and advanced on a passed ball by Jorge Posada. Felix Pie walked and Nick Markakis singled to load the bases before Ty Wigginton made it 1-0 with a single to center field.
Jones followed with his single to left, and Posada couldn’t handle Brett Gardner’s perfect one-hop throw, allowing Markakis to safely touch home plate.
The Yankees appeared ready to rally for their ace in the bottom half, getting singles from three of the first four batters. Robinson Cano, batting fourth with Alex Rodriguez out of the staring lineup as a precaution after playing two straight games in his return from the disabled list, got his 95th RBI to make it 3-1.
But Nick Swisher, running gingerly on a sore knee, grounded into a double play. Arrieta (5-6) got Posada to ground into a double play in the second to wipe out Lance Berkman’s leadoff single.
Arrieta then didn’t give up a hit until the fifth, when Berkman led off with another single. The designated hitter scored, stumbling around third and making a nifty sideways lunge for home plate on Posada’s double off the wall to make it 5-2.
Markakis upped the lead to 6-2 with an RBI single after Curtis Granderson failed to catch Josh Bell’s long drive to center for a two-base error opening the seventh. Markakis’ one-out hit ended Sabathia’s night.
Sabathia gave up nine hits and a season high-tying six runs — five earned — in 6 1-3 innings. He walked one and struck out five in having his six-start winning streak snapped.
Sabathia sat in the dugout, shaking his head disappointedly while watching Kerry Wood finish the seventh.
The Orioles nearly gave back the runs in a sloppy seventh. Berkman doubled leading off for his third hit and Posada walked. Granderson hit a shallow popup that Jones slowed up on in shallow center, forcing shortstop Robert Andino to make a lunging attempt to catch. The ball hit off his glove, but Jones forced Posada at second.
Pinch-hitting against reliever Matt Albers, Rodriguez hit a scorching liner at Bell, who knocked it down at third base. Bell recovered to force Granderson.
Arrieta gave up eight hits and two runs in 6 1-3 innings.
Pirates 5, Braves 0
PITTSBURGH — After being in sole possession of the NL East lead every day for more than three months, they’re now the second-place Atlanta Braves.
They don’t like the sound of it at all.
James McDonald pitched seven innings, Ronny Cedeno’s triple keyed a five-run seventh and the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates knocked the Braves out of first place, winning for their second victory over Atlanta in as many days.
Philadelphia beat Florida 8-7 to take the lead that Atlanta had held every day since May 31.
It’s easy to find a culprit — the Braves have scored only 12 runs while losing five of six, a slump that followed a five-game winning streak. The Pirates had lost seven of nine and were on pace to lose 109 games before winning the first two games of the three-game series.
“Did we expect to be in first place until the end of the season? I mean, it would have been nice,” Braves starter Tim Hudson said. “But we understand that Philly is a pretty good team. There’s a lot of games left (six) with Philly.”
Hudson (15-7), losing his second straight after winning six in a row, kept the Pirates hitless until the fifth and without a run through six. But the right-hander retired only one batter during the Pirates’ breakthrough seventh inning, giving up four runs after pitching 28 consecutive innings against Pittsburgh without allowing an earned run.
“For a while, I didn’t know if we were going to get a hit,” Pirates manager John Russell said. “Hudson was really good, but we found a way.”
Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez doubled in succession with one out for the game’s first run. After Ryan Doumit was intentionally walked, Cedeno tripled off the right-field wall to make it 3-0.
Hudson left one batter later, and reliever Eric O’Flaherty gave up Delwyn Young’s two-run homer into the left-field bleachers. Young’s seventh homer was the Pirates’ first by a pinch-hitter in 29 at-bats.
“I wasn’t able to put up zeros when we needed it,” Hudson said. “When it’s a 0-0 game late, you start realizing that one or two runs could be the difference in the game.”
A day after outfielder Matt Diaz said the Braves remain very confident, manager Bobby Cox said he senses no panic.
“No, they’re not,” Cox said when asked if his players are pressing. “You can say that all you want, but it’s not. It’s a case where we ran up against some pitchers we haven’t hardly seen, and that’s what happens sometimes. No, we’re not pressing.”
McDonald, the former Dodgers prospect, made the most effective of his seven starts with Pittsburgh and his first against Atlanta, limiting the Braves to five hits.
“You know who you’re going against, and you know you’ve got to bring it when you’re going against a guy like that (Hudson),” McDonald said. “I showed them a mix of pitches. They’re a good-hitting team, (so) don’t let them get comfortable with one thing, don’t keep the pattern the same.”
Joel Hanrahan closed it out in the ninth — following a 43-minute rain delay — for his second save in as many days, and his fifth in eight opportunities. Evan Meek pitched a scoreless eighth as the three pitchers combined for Pittsburgh’s sixth shutout. Atlanta has been shut out 10 times.
“We’ve just got to get some runs,” Cox said. “He (Hudson) pitched plenty good. We’ve got to get some runs.”
The Braves twice looked like they might break through against McDonald, who gave up 14 earned runs in 16 1-3 innings while losing his last three starts.
They put two on with two outs in the fifth, but McDonald got Hudson to pop up.
An inning later, the Braves loaded the bases when Jason Heyward walked, Martin Prado doubled for only his second hit in 20 at-bats in PNC Park this season and Brian McCann was intentionally walked, but Derrek Lee grounded into a double play.
Lee, acquired from the Cubs to give the Braves a much-needed power bat down the stretch, has yet to homer and is batting .228 (13 for 57) in 17 games with Atlanta. Lee was hitless in four at-bats.
Mets 4, Nationals 1
WASHINGTON — Gee, that looked pretty good.
A 24-year-old right-hander provided the New York Mets a lift in an otherwise dismal second half of the season. Dillon Gee, making his major league debut, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, leading to a victory over the Washington Nationals.
“That went better than expected. I kind of blacked out, I think,” Gee said with a laugh. “I don’t know what happened out there.”
What happened was that Gee did a masterful job over seven innings, keeping the Nationals off balance mixing his slider with a well-located fastball that hovered around 90 mph. No one could touch him until Willie Harris led off the sixth with a home run to right field, the only run the rookie would allow.
“He’s a pitcher,” New York manager Jerry Manuel said. “Any time you can get a pitcher on his game, he can do those types of things for you. What was impressive is that there was an inning where he went to the offspeed pitches and was able to throw them at any time, at any count. He’s got a good mound presence. He’s a good fielder. He’s a good piece, there’s no doubt about it.
“You like to see a guy have that type of presentation his first time out on the mound. It didn’t look as though there was any anxiety, any issues with him in any form or fashion.”
In that case, Gee sure had his manager fooled. With a dozen or so family and friends in the ballpark, he was flush with rookie jitters.
“I was very nervous,” he said. “I’m surprised that first pitch didn’t hit the backstop.”
In a rare matchup of pitchers making big league debuts, Gee (1-0) outpitched Yunesky Maya, a 28-year-old Cuban defector who signed with the Nationals and fast-tracked his way through the team’s minor league organization. Maya (0-1) allowed a three-run first-inning homer to Ike Davis and a run in the second before retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced.
“I feel pretty good today. Like you said, it’s a dream come true,” said Maya, using catcher Wil Nieves as an interpreter. “I felt nervous in the beginning of the game. I left that one pitch up and I paid for it. ... I got a lot of experience from this game, and hopefully it will be the first one of many.”
Gee allowed two hits with three strikeouts and four walks. He threw 53 of his 86 pitches for strikes. The first three batters he faced all flied out to center. He didn’t allow a baserunner until a walk in the third. He didn’t have a strikeout until the fourth, when he sent down Ian Desmond (slider), Ryan Zimmerman (slider) and Adam Dunn (fastball) in order — all swinging. He thoroughly embarrassed Wilson Ramos with an offspeed pitch in a strikeout that ended the fifth.
“I’m not overpowering,” Gee said. “I’ve just got to hit the corners and keep them off balance.”
Gee even sliced an RBI single in his first major league at-bat, a single to right that scored Ruben Tejada that belied Gee’s 0 for 22 performance at the plate this year in the minors. For a while, Gee was the most perfect player in baseball history, sporting a 1.000 batting average and a 0.00 ERA. He finally spoiled it when he struck out in the fourth.
“That was awesome,” Gee said of his hit. “That’s been the joke all season with me in Triple-A. Everybody made fun of me, so it was really nice to get one here.”
Jesus Feliciano and Bobby Parnell took care of the eighth inning for the Mets, and Hisanori Takahashi survived an adventurous ninth for his fourth save, getting pinch-hitter Ivan Rodriguez to hit into a double play to end the game.
Both starters received the usual formalities of a first appearance on the big stage. The ball Maya threw — a 91 mph called strike — for his first pitch was taken out of the game for posterity. So was Gee’s first heave, an 89 mph called strike, as well the ball from his hit. The sense of history didn’t exactly pack ’em in, however, with only 13,835 on hand at Nationals Park for a game between the two bottom teams in the NL East.
Maya worked five innings, allowing five hits and four runs with two walks and three strikeouts. He signed with the Nationals on Aug. 3 after a standout career in the Cuban major league and appearances for his native country in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic. He made five starts at three different levels before his promotion to Washington. Unlike Gee, Maya couldn’t invite his choice of beloved family members to his debut, having left them behind in Cuba.
“I’m not sure if they were watching,” he said, “but I know their minds and souls were there giving me support.”
Gee had a more stable 2010, going 13-8 and leading all of Triple-A with 165 strikeouts for the Mets’ affiliate in Buffalo. A 21st-round draft pick out of Texas-Arlington in 2007, Gee missed much of 2009 with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Manuel now has to decide whether to give Gee another start or shut him down with an eye on 2010.
“I would love to see him in another shot,” Manuel said. “We’ll probably get together at some point and map out a plan for him, because it looks like he can be a piece for this organization.”
