The New York Yankees took care of business already by winning one game at Camden Yards, this time it was the Baltimore Orioles' turn.
The Orioles continued their magical season on Monday night, getting a solid start from a rookie pitcher and two huge RBIs from Chris Davis, a player who was given away by Texas in a trade last year. Closer Jim Johson finished the game just one night after giving up a ninth inning home run to Russell Martin.
"It's real easy, like I said last night, to trust Jim Johnson," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "He's done it a few times for us. He's having a special year, a special year."
It was another one-run victory for the Orioles, who went 29-9 in those games during the season according to ESPN.com. The team also improved to 75-0 in games when they are leading after the seventh inning.
The team hadn't won a home playoff game since 1997.
Yankees starter Andy Pettitte was outdueled (just barely) by Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen, giving up three runs in seven innings on seven hits.
"I thought he pitched a really, really good game," Girardi said. "I thought he had really good command of his fastball, his curveball, really all his pitches."
Pettitte was sharp all game, but gave up two runs in the third inning and one in the sixth inning.
"It's a playoff game," Pettitte said. "If you give up too many runs, that number doesn't have to get too high until you know you're going to get a loss."
Chen was better on this night, giving up only two runs in 6.1 innings on eight hits. The Yankees had trouble bringing in runners, leaving 10 men on base.
"They were tough. We weren't able to get the big hits with runners in scoring position," Pettitte said. "It was a frustrating game and one you hate to lose. It would have been nice to get this one, that's for sure."
The Yankees got off to an early lead, scoring a run on a wild play in the first inning.
Following an Ichiro Suzuki single Robinson Cano blasted a double to right field. Suzuki came hoisting towards home plate, but the throw beat him by a few feet. Catcher Matt Wieters set up to tag Ichiro and looked as if it would be an easy play, but Suzuki dodged the first swipe, overrunning the batter's box. As Wieters dove at home plate to tag Suzuki on his next attempt, he twisted his body sideways and touched home plate safely.
Davis turned out to be the deciding factor in the game. In the third inning he hit a two-run single, scoring Robert Andino and Nate McLouth.
"Obviously the game came down to a mistake to Davis that scored the two runs," Pettitte said. "Effectively a ball in the middle of the zone. That was a serious mistake by me in that situation. I pretty much cost us the game."
In the sixth Mark Reynolds pushed a single to center field, allowing Wieters to score. The Yankees cut it to 3-2 after a Derek Jeter single in the seventh, but could never tie the game.
The Yankees had their chances, but couldn't come up with a big hit. In the fourth they had the bases loaded but couldn't capitalize.
"Chen did a good job of keeping us in the game," Davis said. "To hold that offense to two runs is saying something, and we were able to get timely hits when we needed it."
Starter Hiroki Kuroda will try to change things up for the Yankees at home in New York for Game 3, facing off against Baltimore's Miguel Gonzalez.
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