Yankees Even Series Behind Jhony Brito, Anthony Volpe

The offense was highlighted by Volpe’s triple to lead off the fifth inning; it was the first career extra-base hit for the Yankee shortstop. Volpe would score the eventual decisive run when DJ LeMahieu followed with a double, and a mammoth home run by Giancarlo Stanton would cap off the three-run inning.

Aaron Judge also extended his on-base streak to 41 consecutive games. He drew a walk in the top of the first inning to continue the streak.

Baltimore struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Cedric Mullins led off with a single, and Adley Rutschman followed with a hard smash that hit Brito in the leg; the ball would roll into left field for a single and allowed Mullins to advance to third. Brito then battled Anthony Santander for nine pitches, which culminated in a sacrifice fly to drive in Mullins. Although the Orioles looked to be off to a hot start, this would be the only run they pushed across the plate.

The Yankee bats were seeing Baltimore pitcher Cole Irvin well, but they were just missing the barrel of the bat for the first couple of innings. Nonetheless, they scored off him in the fourth. Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres walked to put runners on first and second with one out. After Oswaldo Cabrera flew out for the second out, the often-maligned Aaron Hicks came up to bat, looking for his first hit of the season. Hicks would deliver with a single up the middle, driving in Rizzo to tie the game.

In the top of the fifth, the Yankees knocked Irvin around and out of the game. Volpe led off with a fly ball off the right-center field wall and hustled all the way to third for a triple, and LeMahieu roped a double to left to put the Yankees up 2-1. With Judge batting, Irvin uncorked a wild pitch that advanced LeMahieu to third; Judge then capitalized by hitting a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

Irvin then retired Rizzo before being taken out for Austin Voth , who would face Stanton as his first batter. Voth’s second pitch of the night was a fastball right down the middle, and Stanton didn’t miss it. He launched a screaming line drive that cleared the wall in the deepest part of the park, giving New York a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Brito allowed a leadoff single to Ramon Urias, but then ended his night on a high note by striking out two of his last three batters. Both strikeout pitches were changeups; the first locked up Terrin Vavra to conclude a 10-pitch at-bat, and the second completely fooled Rutschman, who feebly waved and missed at the pitch way outside the strike zone.

Stanton’s home run would conclude the game’s scoring; although the Yankees couldn’t push across any more runs, a dominant performance by the bullpen ensured they wouldn’t need to. Michael King pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, while allowing only one baserunner. Wandy Peralta pitched the eighth, picking up a pair of strikeouts. Finally, Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the year, getting Urias to ground out to second to end the game.

The Yankees conclude their series with the Orioles on Easter Sunday, with Nestor Cortes Jr. getting the start. First pitch is at 1:35 pm ET.

Follow Joe Najarian on Twitter (@JoeNajarian). Be sure to bookmark Inside The Pinstripes and check back daily for news, analysis and more.