DJ LeMahieu and the Yankees Offense Power Their Way Past the Baltimore Orioles

The New York Yankees were supposed to be playing their home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, but because of the Marlins’ coronavirus outbreak and the Phillies possibly having been infected after playing a weekend series against the Marlins, MLB postponed Marlins and Phillies games for the near future. This then allowed the Yankees to change their schedule to play a two-game series in Baltimore against the Orioles since both teams were available to play. It’s safe to say that the Yankees were not complaining.

The Yankees picked right back up where they left off last season in Camden Yards as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles 9-3 on Wednesday night. The Yankees had a perfect 10-0 record at Camden Yards last season and they showed no signs of slowing down this season.

After hitting a historic 61 home runs against the Orioles last year, the Yankees started off their season series with the Orioles by mashing three home runs. Surprisingly, one of these Yankees was not named Gleyber Torres, who hit a whopping 13 home runs against the O’s last year.

Instead, DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks all connected on their first home runs of the 2020 season. LeMahieu had a great night offensively as he went 4-5 at the plate and drove in two runs. Judge and Hicks both joined the party by driving in two runs themselves as Judge went 2-3 at the plate, while Hicks went 1-3.

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (2-0) had his Yankee Stadium debut delayed and he didn’t appear to have his A+ stuff against the O’s, but it was enough to earn him his second win as a New York Yankee. Cole now has won 18-straight regular season games dating back to last year. He gave up three earned runs and struck out seven batters in 6.2 innings pitched. Cole had retired 15 Oriole hitters in a row before giving up a double, a homer and another double that chased him out of the game before being able to finish the seventh inning.

The Yankees have now improved to 3-1, while the Orioles fall to 2-2. The two teams will finish their two-game series in Baltimore on Thursday night as J.A. Happ will make his 2020 season debut for the Yankees, while left hander John Means gets the ball for the O’s.

Photo: (Noah K. Murray- USA TODAY Sports)