Roberts, Orioles top Yanks to start series in Bronx

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Roberts' seventh inning single drove in the winning run as Baltimore downed New York, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game set.

Roberts finished 3-for-5 with two RBI while Matt Wieters knocked in a run and walked twice for the Orioles, who won their third straight in manager Buck Showalter's return to the Bronx.

Brian Matusz (8-12) picked up the win after allowing three runs on five hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts over six innings, and Koji Uehara sewed up the victory by retiring the side in order in the ninth to earn his seventh save for the Birds, who have won three straight against the top two teams in the division.

A.J. Burnett (10-13) was tagged with the loss after yielding all four runs on seven hits and four walks while fanning five over seven innings for New York, which saw its lead trimmed to two games in the AL East over Tampa Bay, which plays later this evening at Boston.

Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run in defeat for New York, his first since coming off the disabled list Sunday and the 605th of his career.

After the Yankees had scored twice in the home sixth to tie the game at three, the visitors produced the decisive run in the next half inning.

Corey Patterson led off with a single, moved to second base on a Cesar Izturis sacrifice bunt and scored on Roberts' single to right.

Josh Bell doubled to open the third, advanced on a Roberts single and scored the game's first run when Felix Pie grounded into a 3-6-3 double play.

Rodriguez's long ball to left with two outs in the fourth tied the game.

The visitors regained the lead in the fifth when Izturis doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Roberts, who was thrown out at second base to end the inning.

Pie singled to start the six and then advanced to third after a Nick Markakis walk and a wild pitch before coming into score on a Wieters sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 game.

Nick Swisher opened the home half of the inning with a walk that was followed by a Mark Teixeira single. The runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Swisher came home on a Rodriguez sacrifice fly before Robinson Cano's single fell in between the shortstop Izturis and left fielder Pie to chase home Teixeira.

Game Notes

Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of former Baltimore shortstop/third baseman Cal Ripken, Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig's historic consecutive games played mark. On September 6 the following year, Eddie Murray belted the 500th home run of his Hall of Fame career in his return to Baltimore off Detroit's Felipe Lira. Matusz improved to 2-3 in five career turns against New York with both of his wins coming at Yankee Stadium...Roberts has hit safely in six straight games. Weiters had a seven-game hit streak snapped, while Markakis went 1-for-3 and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games...The Yankees lead the season series, 10-3, including a 6-1 record at home...Burnett has allowed the first run of the game in 18 of his 28 starts. He is 2-2 against the Birds this year and 11-4 in 17 career starts...New York's Brett Gardner had a streak of drawing a walk in 10 straight games snapped...The Yankees concluded a stretch of five straight home day games which they had played since April 8-14, 2004 against the White Sox and Tampa Bay.