BALTIMORE (AP) — If your starting pitcher isn't sharp, the New York Yankees can make him look very bad, very quickly.
And the Baltimore Orioles have a lot of starters who haven't been sharp lately.
The Yankees greeted Kyle Gibson in his return to the major leagues by homering on three of his first five pitches Tuesday night. When Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge and Ben Rice went deep, it marked the second time this year that New York began a game with three consecutive home runs. The Yankees are the first team to do that more than once in a season — and April hasn't even ended yet.
“Grish got it going for us and set the tone for us early on,” Judge said. “When he goes up there and ... sends one to Eutaw Street, it's pretty impressive and gets you going.”
Cody Bellinger — the game's fifth batter — also hit a solo homer, and Gibson allowed another one to Rice in the second. The Yankees ultimately went deep six times and thrashed the Orioles 15-3.
New York started the bottom of the first of its March 29 game against Milwaukee with three homers in a row. In that game, Paul Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Judge needed only three pitches to hit three homers.
“It just shows that we’ve got a lot of depth in the lineup,” Rice said. “I know Judgie was part of the first one, right? But it was three different guys this time? Or two different guys?”
It was an ugly return to the majors for the 37-year-old Gibson, who made 30 starts for the St. Louis Cardinals last season before Baltimore signed him to a $5.25 million, one-year contract in late March. He'd been working in the minors before being called up before Tuesday's game.
“He gave up four homers in the first inning. That’s kind of a telling sign,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “At that point I’m just trying to figure out how we’re going to get through the game.”
Gibson ended up allowing nine runs and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings. The Orioles lost ace Corbin Burnes to free agency and tried to bolster their staff by signing three starting pitchers to one-year deals, all of whom were at least 35 years old. Tomoyuki Sugano has been a positive, but Charlie Morton is off to a horrendous start and Gibson provided no help in his first opportunity.
After Rice's home run made it 3-0, Gibson retired Goldschmidt on a grounder before Bellinger homered. Anthony Volpe's RBI double made it 5-0 before the top of the first was over.
Rice homered again in the second to make it 6-0.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
Noah Trister, The Associated Press
