Adam Jones did it with his bat and his glove as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Yankees 4-3 and evened up the series at a game apiece.
Jones wasted no time getting his team on the scoreboard (video). In the bottom of the first, he took a 1-1 pitch from CC Sabathia well into the left-field bleachers for a solo home run (4) to give the Orioles a lead they would not relinquish. Jones added a second RBI when he brought in Everth Cabrera with a third-inning sacrifice fly.
Jones may have also helped prevent the Yankees from scoring early when he chased down Chase Headley's drive in the first for a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch near the center-field wall (video).
Baltimore scored single runs in the fourth (Caleb Joseph RBI single) and seventh (Cabrera sacrifice fly). The sac fly made the score 4-1, and it proved itself a huge insurance run that the Orioles would need.
New York got on the board in the sixth thanks to Mark Teixeira's double that drove home Jacoby Ellsbury.
Trailling 4-1 in the eighth, the Yankees received two gift runs. Carlos Beltran grounded out, but the defense allowed Didi Gregorius to score a seemingly harmless run at the time. Teixeira followed with a routine grounder that Alejandro De Aza could not handle; Headley scored to pull the Yankees to within a run. However, there would be no pinch-hit heroics this time, and they would not pull even.
Miguel Gonzalez (1-1, 1.42 ERA) was brilliant for Baltimore. He allowed one run on four hits in seven innings to win it. Zach Britton (S: 2, 2.08) pitched a perfect ninth to close it out.
Sabathia (L: 0-2, 5.68) kept his team in the game but could not hold them enough. Sabathia allowed four earned runs on seven hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
The two teams play the rubber game tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. EDT. Nathan Evoldi (0-0, 5.06) will start for New York, and Bud Norris (0-1, 24.00) will take the mound for Baltimore.