NEW YORK – The Yankees received a couple of home runs from Cody Bellinger, and it proved to be enough in a 9-4 victory over the Orioles on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, moving New York to a season-high 11 games over .500 at 22-11, the best in the American League.
“I love where we are as a team,” Bellinger said. “We are very athletic. I feel like we can beat the opponent in many different ways. Right now, we are showing it. We just want to continue to keep it rolling.”
Bellinger is having another solid season for New York. He has reached base in 27 of 32 games this season. For the second consecutive game against Baltimore, Bellinger reached base four times, and he ended up going 4-for-4 with four RBIs. He was a triple short of the cycle.
“Cody was nice,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Bellinger was hoping for that fifth at-bat in the eighth to try to reach that personal milestone. But only four Yankees were able to hit that inning against left-hander Nick Raquet, and Aaron Judge struck out to end the inning. Bellinger was in the on-deck circle when the frame ended.
“I was going to go for it for sure. Obviously, it was in the back of my mind. I was going to continue to try it and [hopefully] put the swing on the ball,” Bellinger acknowledged.
The first time Bellinger reached base occurred in the second inning, when he connected on a 2-1 pitch from right-hander Kyle Bradish for a solo homer into the right-center-field seats, his fourth of the season.
An inning later with Judge in the batter’s box, Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman was charged with a passed ball, allowing José Caballero to score the second run of the game. Two batters later, Bellinger drove in Trent Grisham with a double. It wasn’t an easy double. Bellinger hit the ball to right-center field, but there was a defender near second base, so Bellinger sprinted in for the double.
“You see his speed. His speed was big on the bases today, too. That’s Cody Bellinger. Just an all-around [player], ” Boone said. “You see the speed, power, athleticism, the two-strike hitting – dunking one out in center field to extend the lead with his second at-bat. It was a great day by a great player.”
By the time Bellinger came to the plate in the fifth inning, the Yankees had a 5-1 lead, and he added to the scoring when he belted an 0-1 pitch from Keegan Akin into the right-field seats for his fifth home run of the season. It was the 21st multi-homer game of Bellinger’s career.
By the seventh inning, the Orioles made it close, cutting the lead to 6-4. Samuel Basallo highlighted the scoring with a two-run double off reliever Jake Bird in the sixth.
The Yankees put the game out of reach in the seventh by scoring three runs. Anthony Nunez was on the mound when Bellinger drove in his fourth run of the game. Bellinger singled off the glove of second baseman Jeremiah Jackson, and that allowed Ben Rice to score the Yankees’ seventh run. Judge and Bellinger scored on a single by Jazz Chisholm Jr.
“The one thing I like about Bellinger this year is that he is more patient at the plate,” Boone said. “One of his super powers is that ability to put the ball in play with two strikes. He did it again today. He is keeping it under control, knowing how valuable it is when he is on base as well. I feel he struck that balance pretty well. Today was a big-time day.”