Swish Secures Yankees Sweep of Orioles

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Nick Swisher saved what would have been a terrible loss for the Yankees, smashing a two-run home run in the top of the tenth inning of a 4-4 tie against Baltimore. The Yankees would go on to win 6-4, completing a sweep of the O's and bringing their record to 3-3. Last night's game was another nail-biter, as both teams went extra innings for the second night in a row. Swisher's home run followed a double by Mark Teixeira with two men out.

The Yankees were off to a great start in the first inning with Derek Jeter hitting a double and Curtis Granderson following with a monster two-run homer that made its way on to Baltimore's Eutaw Street. CC Sabathia pitched a stellar first, going 1-2-3 on just 12 pitches mixing his slider and sinker for strikes, and was able to get his four-seamer up to 92 mph.

But CC struggled afterward and alllowed Baltimore to come back and tie the game in the second inning at 2-2. It would take him 38 pitches just to get out of that inning. The Yankees needed CC to give them innings since most of their bullpen was unavailable, and he managed to stretch his outing to six. With 112 pitches, he gave up eight hits, two walks and struck out eight batters. Not a great night for the ace, but he was able to keep the Orioles at bay just enough for the bullpen to take over. Boone Logan, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera all got the job done, giving up only two hits between them for the last three innings. Mo is now 2-for-3 in save opportunities.

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And although he wasn't the only batter to struggle in tonight's game, Alex Rodriguez had another poor night offensively, going 1-for-4 and striking out twice. A-Rod's batting average now sits below .150 on 4-for-23 hitting; not a huge deal at this point in the season, but not something that should be overlooked, either. Alex is not seeing the ball well as he's taken too many fastballs in the zone. He's also swinging "late" against pitches that he would normally tag. But what's most alarming is that he seems unable to make a full swing "through" balls pitched inside. This was a problem he had caused by his hip surgery, and it looked as if he had made progress with it during Spring Training. Hopefully with the off-day today, he'll be well rested and we'll see more production from him tomorrow.

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper