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 The blats by Schoop and Joseph highlighted an impressive
performance by the Baltimore Orioles in an 8-0 win over the Yankees
on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Second baseman Schoop became the first player to hit two home runs
off Tanaka (11-2), and he has five RBIs against the rookie
right-hander. He hit a three-run home run off Tanaka on April 9. On
Sunday, he hit a solo shot in the second and a run-scoring grounder
in the seventh.
"I try to see the ball up in the zone," Schoop said. "It's tough.
He's a good pitcher. I don't think you're going to see a lot of
balls up in the zone. He's going to leave his balls down all the
time ... (and) two balls have been up and I put the barrel on the
ball and the ball went out."
The game was long out of reach when Joseph stepped in for his 71st
career at-bat against David Huff in the ninth inning. On a full
count, he hit a ball over the left field fence, and though many fans
had left, one fan threw it back on the field. Eventually Jeter
picked it up and threw into the Baltimore dugout, saving Joseph
money from trading memorabilia for the ball.
"The best part of the story was Derek Jeter," Joseph said. "What a
classy guy he is. The guys told me that he went over to the ball boy
and got the ball back from him. He's so well known for being such a
classy guy in the baseball world and that just shows how aware he is
of everything going on.
"He might have been the only one on the field that knew it was my
first major league home run. It speaks volumes of his knowledge of
the game and I'm really thankful that he did that."
Joseph also caught Baltimore's seventh shutout of the season,
guiding right-hander Chris Tillman (6-4) through seven effective
innings.
"It was awesome," Tillman said. "I was screaming like a little girl
in the clubhouse when I saw it."
Tillman improved to 6-0 on the road by allowing four hits, throwing
67 of 114 pitches for strikes while getting help from a replay
challenge early and from his defense in the middle innings.
"You have to be better," Tillman said. "You have to execute your
pitches and give the offense a chance. Early on my fastball was
really working, then later on I was able to get my curveball over
where it needed to be."
Tillman started off by allowing a double to left fielder Brett
Gardner, who was called safe when he advanced to third. After third
baseman Manny Machado urged manager Buck Showalter to challenge the
call, the play was overturned following a review of two minutes, 38
seconds.
"I kept the tag and I was pretty confident he went off the bag,"
Machado said. "Looking at the replay it was a 50/50 chance, but Buck
went off my reaction and we got lucky. That got us going and gave us
the momentum."
In the third, he had first and second in a 1-0 game but retired
Jeter on a 6-4-3 double play. In the fourth, the Yankees had two on
again but Tillman snagged a liner by third baseman Kelly Johnson for
the final out.
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The Orioles faced Tanaka for the second time this season and though
he allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings, they became the
first team to beat him twice.
"He's some kind a pitcher," Showalter said. "We were fortunate to
catch him on a day when he wasn't as sharp as he normally is."
Tanaka pitched in a 1-0 game until the seventh but then allowed two
hits before allowing an RBI groundout by Schoop and a sacrifice fly
by Machado.
"I feel like I let the game go there," Tanaka said.
"I thought he pitched well," catcher Brian McCann added. "Just in
the seventh inning, he got a couple of pitches up in the zone and
out over the plate."
Baltimore added four runs in the eighth as Hardy lined a
bases-clearing double and Machado added a RBI single. That came
after Johnson's throwing error when designated hitter Steve Pearce
slid into hard forcing a throw to wind up the stands. Yankees
manager Joe Girardi thought the play was malicious but Pearce said
his only intention was to break up a potential double play.
The Yankees lost for fourth time in their 12 games and were shut out
for the third time. They also removed first baseman Mark Teixeira
after he was hit on the foot by a pitch, but X-rays were negative.
"I thought we swung the bats all right," Jeter said. "We hit a lot
of balls hard -- just at some people."
NOTES: The Yankees held their 68th annual Old-Timers Day celebration
and among the first-time honorees were OF Johnny Damon and DH Hideki
Matsui. They also unveiled a plaque in Monument Park for Hall of
Famer Goose Gossage. ... Baltimore manager Buck Showalter also was
introduced to the fans and joked it was because he was saying hello
to former Yankees general manager Gene Michael. Showalter also
pointed out that the Orioles have some history by saying: "We've got
some monuments, too. We don't take a backseat to many people with
our history and tradition."
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