BALTIMORE — The Yankees spent most of Tuesday night trying to survive an offense that could barely touch Shane Baz, then found just enough room to steal a game once Baltimore’s starter was finally out of the way.
New York managed five hits, but Trent Grisham supplied every run in a 3-1 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. He homered in the third inning and later produced the hit that separated the teams in the seventh.
The pitching staff made that thin output hold. Carlos Rodon returned from the injured list and allowed one run over four innings, while five Yankees relievers covered the final five frames without allowing a run. Baltimore finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.
The result improved the Yankees to 70-55 and pulled them within five games of Tampa Bay in the AL East after the Rays lost to Toronto. It also gave New York a second straight victory after a three-game skid.
Yankees wait out Baz before the game turns
Baz recorded a season-high 10 strikeouts and kept New York from building anything sustained for most of the night.
Grisham’s third-inning homer, his 17th of the season, represented the Yankees’ only damage against Baz until the seventh. Coby Mayo answered with a solo homer off Rodon in the bottom half, leaving the game tied 1-1.
George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones opened the decisive opportunity with one-out singles in the seventh. Both reached against Baz, who departed after 6 1/3 innings.
Baltimore brought in left-hander Josh Walker. Boone sent Paul Goldschmidt to the plate, and Goldschmidt walked to load the bases. Boone then used Amed Rosario, giving the Yankees another right-handed bat against Walker.
Rosario struck out.
The moves had produced one walk and one out. With two outs and the bases loaded, the lineup rolled to Grisham. Boone had created the matchup, but the inning now depended entirely on the leadoff hitter delivering against a left-hander.
Grisham rescues the sequence after falling behind 0-2
Walker quickly put Grisham in an 0-2 hole. Grisham worked the count back to 2-2 and lined a 93.8 mph sinker into center field. Jones and Lombard scored for a 3-1 Yankees lead.
Grisham said the at-bat reflected the mental approach he has tried to build. He refused to let the count change his plan.
“Stay in it. Stay in the fight,” Grisham said. “Don’t let circumstances dictate how I’m thinking. If I get out, I get out. If he makes his pitch, he makes his pitch. But it’s not going to be because I think my way out of an at-bat.”
The hit extended an August turnaround. Since Aug. 3, Grisham is 16-for-53, a .302 average, with six homers and 12 RBIs over 13 games. Overall, he is batting .224/.313/.426 in 105 games.
Boone said the change has appeared in Grisham’s plate appearances as much as the recent power.
“He’s really kind of got locked back in to where I feel like he’s having those good Grish at-bats every day,” Boone said. “He’s been dialed in pretty good, and obviously he’s hitting for some power now over the last several as well. A big night for him.”
Rodón and Yankees bullpen protect the margin
The Yankees still needed five innings from the bullpen because Rodon was limited to 66 pitches in his first major league start since June 28. The left-hander allowed two hits, walked two and struck out four while throwing 39 strikes.
His biggest test came in the second. A Jazz Chisholm Jr. error on a potential double-play ball helped load the bases with one out, but Rodon struck out Carlos Narváez and Jackson Holliday to escape.
Yerry De los Santos followed with two scoreless innings and earned the win in the official game record. Brent Headrick put two runners aboard in the seventh before Boone summoned Fernando Cruz to face Pete Alonso.
Alonso hit a 107 mph liner to right field, but Jones caught it to end Baltimore’s best late threat. Paul Blackburn worked the eighth, and David Bednar retired the side in the ninth for his 28th save.
The official game record charged Baz with the loss despite his 10 strikeouts. The two runners he left behind in the seventh scored on Grisham’s single, leaving him responsible for all three Yankees runs.
Yankees keep finding late ways to win
Tuesday marked the Yankees’ 27th victory this season in a game they were tied or trailing in the seventh inning or later. That is tied with the Padres and Brewers for the most in MLB.
Grisham and Lombard combined for four of the Yankees’ five hits. Lombard finished 2-for-4 and scored the go-ahead run, another productive night for the rookie prospect in a depleted lineup.
Grisham has begun to change his own season. He entered the night in the middle of his best offensive stretch of the year, and the Yankees again reached the late innings with a chance to turn a quiet performance into a win. With the postseason race tightening, those opportunities have become increasingly valuable for a roster that has repeatedly needed its bullpen and bench to cover for missing stars. The deciding sequence required Aaron Boone to empty two matchup cards before the lineup returned to the one hitter Baltimore had not solved.
The Yankees have won six of eight meetings with Baltimore this season. In a tightening postseason race, they escaped Camden Yards with another win built on a narrow late margin.
Boone’s substitutions were mixed. Goldschmidt reached, Rosario failed, and Grisham turned the final matchup into the swing that decided the game.
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