Gunnar Henderson on Monday led off the first inning with a homer to become the youngest player in major league history with 10 before May 1 as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Yankees 2-0 in the opener of a four-game series.
Grayson Rodriguez threw 5-2/3 shutout innings for Baltimore, who won the first meeting of the season between the top two teams in the American League East.
After fouling off the previous three pitches, the 22-year-old Henderson lined a 2-2 knuckle-curve over the wall in right off Clarke Schmidt (2-1).
Photo: AFP
Henderson tied the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout for the major league lead in homers.
“I’d like to say I know I can do it, but it definitely would be a little surprising,” Henderson said when asked if he thought before the season he would have 10 home runs before the end of April. “I’m definitely feeling good a little bit.”
It was enough of a cushion for Rodriguez (4-1), who matched a career high with 101 pitches while allowing at least one runner in each inning he worked. He allowed five hits, struck out three and walked three.
“We pitched so well against a really, really tough lineup, starting with Grayson,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “Grayson was absolutely outstanding. Really good fastball with changeup tonight. Thought he kept them off balance extremely well.”
Rodriguez has not allowed a run in 12 career innings against the Yankees.
New York left 10 men on base and were none for eight with runners in scoring position.
“We had our chances tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We had probably 10, 12 base runners. We’ve had some of those nights where we got shut down when we had a lot of traffic. We just didn’t come up with a big hit, and they obviously kept us in the ballpark.”
Baltimore added an insurance run in the eighth inning. Caleb Ferguson hit Henderson with a pitch with one out and Adley Rutschman singled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
Henderson moved up to third on a flyout. Clay Holmes entered and induced a ground ball by Anthony Santander, but shortstop Anthony Volpe booted it to allow Henderson to score.
Danny Coulombe recorded three outs for his first save.
Elsewhere, the Mariners beat the Braves 2-1, the Cubs mastered the Mets 3-1, the Rays blanked the Brewers 1-0, the Nationals thrashed the Marlins 7-2 and the Dodgers downed the Diamondbacks 8-4.
The Blue Jays edged the Royals 6-5, the Twins tamed the White Sox 3-2, the Angels overcame the Phillies 6-5, the Athletics sank the Pirates 5-1 and the Reds routed the Padres 5-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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