Saturday June 4 vs the Yankees

Opponent: New York Yankees
Outcome: W
Score: 7-6
Streak: W1
Record: 12-41
Rank: 7th
GB: 22.5

This one was a roller coaster.  The Yankees got on the board in the first inning in a similar way that they had the night before.  Rickey Henderson led off the game with a single and then stole second with Willie Randolph at the plate.  Randolph then flew out to short right for the first out.  With Claudell Washington up, Orioles starter Mike Boddicker caught Henderson leading off too far from second but threw the ball away on the pickoff attempt.  Henderson ended up at third and scored when Washington singled.  Boddicker was able to get out of the inning without any further damage (despite hitting Jack Clark with a pitch and walking Dave Winfield to load the bases).

Unlike the night before however the Orioles came back and took the lead in the bottom of the second.  A Larry Sheets walk, a Keith Hughes single, a Terry Kennedy RBI double and a Rene Gonzales sacrifice fly put the Birds up 2-1.  They increased the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third on an RBI groundout by Eddie Murray.

Meanwhile Mike Boddicker was pitching one of his best games of the season.  After pitching out of trouble in the first inning he only gave up three more hits until the ninth although one of those hits was a solo home run by Joel Skinner in the top of the seventh.  But things got interesting in the top of the ninth with the Orioles up 3-2.  Boddicker got the leadoff hitter (Mike Pagliarulo) to line out back to the pitcher for the first out but Winfield singled to put the tying run on first.  Orioles manager Frank Robinson went to his bullpen and brought in the team's closer, Tom Neidenfuer.  Neidenfuer gave up a single to Gary Ward to move Winfield to third and then a game tying single to pinch hitter Jose Cruz.  He got pinch hitter Jay Buhner to fly out for the second out of the inning before Robinson brought Dave Schmidt in to relieve him.  Schmidt walked Handerson to load the bases before striking out Randolph to keep the game tied at three.

But it wouldn't stay tied for long.  With one out in the top of the tenth Clark connected for a solo home run off of Schmidt to put the Yankees up 4-3.  After a fly out by Pagliarulo the Yankees looked like they were going to get some more runs when Winfield and Ward singled but Schmidt got Bobby Meachum to ground out to end the threat.

With the Yankees closer Dave Righetti on the mound things didn't look good for the Orioles but Sheets led off the bottom of the tenth with a single.  Robinson put Wade Rowdon in to run for him and sent Ken Gerhart up to hit for Hughes.  Gerhart worked a walk but Rick Schu (who was pinch hitting for Kennedy) struck out for the first out.  But then Gonzales came through with a double that tied up the game again and put the winning run on third with one out.  A Bill Ripken ground out and a Mickey Tettleton fly out ended the inning though.

Both teams threatened over the next three innings, especially the Orioles.  The Birds left runners on second and third in the bottom of both the eleventh and twelfth.  The Yankees broke through in the top of the fourteenth.  Washington led off the inning with a single off Orioles reliever Doug Sisk and Clark followed up with a walk.  Pagliarulo and Winfield had back to back RBI singles to put the Yankees up 6-4.  Sisk avoided further damage by getting Ward to pop out for the first out and Meachum to ground into an inning ending double play.

But the Orioles had one more comeback in them this evening (actually it was Sunday morning at this point) - it was another one of those bizarre innings that they were usually on the other end of.  Schu led off the inning against Yankees pitcher Hipolito Pena by hitting a ground ball that shortstop Meachum made an error on.  Gonzales followed with a single and Bill Ripken walked to load the bases.  It looked all over though when Pena fanned Tettleton and Fred Lynn for the first two outs.   At this point Yankees manager Billy Martin somewhat inexplicably went to his bullpen again and brought in Cecilio Guante to pitch to Cal Ripken.  It looked like the move was going to pay off when Cal hit a ground ball to Pagliarulo at third but Pags threw the ball into the right field corner for a bases clearing, game winning error.  The stats for the winning inning were three runs on one hit, one walk and two Yankee errors.  It was the Birds' third walk off win of the season and their third extra inning victory.  At 14 innings it would be the longest game the team would play all season.