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New York Yankees Sweep the Orioles, Prove They’re the Team to Beat

By Alexander Evans

Jun 11, 2017; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (24) celebrates after hitting a three run home run against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 11, 2017; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (24) celebrates after hitting a three run home run against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
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The New York Yankees are proving game-by-game that they are the top team in the AL East. They continue to win series after series as the season goes on.

The New York Yankees are proving game-by-game that they are the team to beat in the American League East.

The 37-23 Bronx Bombers completed a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles Sunday afternoon with a 14-3 victory in the Bronx, giving the team an 8-5 record over their 13-game stretch against divisional opponents in the Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox.

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After splitting a four-game set in Toronto last weekend and dropping two of three in Baltimore earlier this week, the Yankees were able to take two of three from the Red Sox and all three games from the Orioles thanks to an historic offensive surge and lights out pitching up and down the starting rotation.

Aaron Judge’s 495-foot home run provided the cap on a fabulous outburst from the Yankee bats, as they outscored their opponents by a combined score of 104-42 over the 13-game span, including eight, nine, eight, 16 and 14 runs respectively in the final five games of their brief six-game homestead. It was the first time in the illustrious history of the Yankees that the team scored at least eight runs and at least two home runs in five straight games.

Judge and Gary Sanchez led the charge for a Yankee offense that is in the top two in runs scored in all of baseball. Judge had 13 RBI and five home runs on 21 hits while scoring 17 runs,  and Sanchez had 15 RBI and five home runs on 14 hits while scoring 13 runs.

Judge now leads the American League in home runs (21), RBI (47) and average (.344), and went and incredible 4-4 with a pair of home runs, three RBI and scored four runs in the series finale

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against Baltimore.

In total, the Yankee offense had 27 home runs and 81 RBI on 148 hits, along with scoring 85 runs and walking 39 times.

Despite the tremendous amount of fire power displayed by the Yankee offense, the pitching staff was equally as impressive over the course of the past 13 games, although they’ve been overshadowed a bit.

Both the starting rotation and the bullpen have given up just 84 hits, including under eight in the last seven games of the stretch. The Yankees surrendered just 27 walks and 15 home runs while striking out 101 batters.

It was a better-than-expected 13-game stretch against tough divisional opponents for the Yankees these past few weeks, but their 8-5 record shows that they passed the test with flying colors and have proven that they are the team to beat in a highly competitive A.L. East.

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