BALTIMORE — The Yankees cashed two lottery tickets Saturday night.
One, they were able to play a game after a nearly two-hour rain delay — which didn’t include actual rain — to avoid another doubleheader down the road. Two, the awful Orioles were in the other Camden Yards dugout.
In a sport drowning in bad teams, organizations that don’t care about winning and minor leaguers wearing big league uniforms, the Orioles have morphed into a team so bad it is difficult to watch.
Against that backdrop, the Yankees posted an 8-5 win over the for-the-Birds in front of 32,823 customers, many of whom were pulling for the visitors.
Miguel Andujar and Giancarlo Stanton each homered for the Yankees, who have won four straight and six of eight. Andujar drove in three runs, and Aaron Hicks and Stanton two each.
Nevertheless, the Orioles committed three errors, two by center fielder Adam Jones, in the sixth inning when the Yankees scored twice and pushed the lead from 4-2 to 6-2.
“It was very important, the mistakes right there,’’ said Hicks, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and delivered a run-scoring single in the sixth. “It pushed our lead up more. It’s always good to take advantage.’’
Jones made a fielding and throwing error and second baseman Jonathan Schoop turned a sure double play into a man on second with a lackadaisical pivot throw to first that went over Chris Davis’ head and allowed the heavy-legged Gary Sanchez to get to second. Instead of having two outs and the bases empty, Baltimore starter Kevin Gausman (3-5) had a runner on second and one out.
Masahiro Tanaka was the beneficiary of the Orioles’ charity and improved to a deceiving 7-2. In 5 ¹/₃ innings, Tanaka gave up four runs on eight hits and one walk while fanning seven. Baltimore did hit three home runs, which was a season-high in a game for Tanaka and raised his total for the year to 15.
“I felt like I made some quality pitches,’’ Tanaka said. “But the home runs, I gave up three home runs. I don’t think all the pitches were bad but, obviously, some went out of the park. I just need to do a better job.’’
The Yankees haven’t lost a game Tanaka has started since April 17. That’s a stretch of eight starts and includes the suspended game against the Nationals on May 15.
Jonathan Holder relieved Tanaka in the sixth and allowed one of the two runners he inherited to score. Chad Green worked a scoreless seventh and Dellin Betances was perfect in the eighth. David Robertson gave up a run in the ninth.
The biggest Yankees concern was Gleyber Torres getting hit on the right wrist by a pitch from Miguel Castro in the sixth inning. Torres stayed in the game, however, and Aaron Boone said the rookie second baseman checked out well.
Stanton crushed a two-run homer to right field off Gausman and added a single. Nevertheless, he didn’t look at that output as marking the end of the 2-for-23 slump he lugged into Saturday night’s action.
“Not fun, working to get it right. You keep working until you can’t. That’s what I am going to do,’’ said Stanton, who has 12 homers. “Anyone can put a good game or two together, a good week or a good month, you have to stay positive.’’
Having the Orioles (17-41) in the other dugout is a very big positive for the Yankees, who will look to sweep three from the Birds on Sunday. Thursday night’s game, supposed to be the opener of a four-game series, was postponed by actual rain drops.
“It was a good day, good at-bats, saw the ball well and it was a great team win,’’ Stanton said.
Against a team that should be embarrassed with the way it played.