BALTIMORE _ Discussing yet another player landing on the Yankees' ever-expanding injury list late Thursday morning, Aaron Boone said it's part of what teams go through during the long season.
"Every team on some level's going to get punched in the mouth a little bit," Boone said.
Gleyber Torres helped the Yankees finally punch back.
The 22-year-old, now the club's shortstop with Troy Tulowitzki sent to the IL Thursday, cracked two home runs, the latter a three-run blast in the sixth inning, helping lift the Yankees to a needed 8-4 come-from-behind victory over the Orioles in front of a home-opener crowd of 44,182 at Camden Yards.
Torres, coming off a 2018 in which he finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting, went 4-for-4 with four RBIs. The Yankees hit four homers, with Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit also going deep. Voit's three-run homer in the ninth off Miguel Castro gave the bullpen an 8-4 cushion.
The Yankees, who trailed 4-1 going into the sixth and were coming off season-opening series losses to the Orioles and Tigers at the Stadium, improved to 3-4.
The right-handed-hitting Torres hit his first homer of the season in the third inning off Baltimore right-hander Alex Cobb. After doubling in the fifth, Torres stepped in against righty Mike Wright Jr. with two on and two outs in the sixth and fell behind 0-and-2. But the next pitch, a 95-mph fastball, was slammed by Torres over the left-field wall to make it 5-4.
Sanchez's third homer of the season, a shot to center off Cobb, started the four-run inning. Greg Bird greeted Wright with a two-out single and DJ LeMahieu, after falling in an 0-and-2 hole, kept it going with a single. Wright had a disastrous day, allowing three runs and four hits, not retiring a batter.
James Paxton overcame some early command issues, which contributed to a three-run first for the Orioles (4-3), to give the Yankees 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander allowed four runs, eight hits and two walks. Paxton, who balked in a run in the first and also threw a wild pitch in the inning that scored a run, struck out nine.
Tommy Kahnle took over for Paxton with one on and one out in the bottom half of the sixth and walked Jesus Sucre. The righty, however, got Richie Martin to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat. Kahnle pitched a scoreless seventh and Zack Britton, who pitched the first eight seasons of his big-league career with the Orioles before the Yankees acquired him at the 2018 trade deadline, walked pinch hitter Drew Jackson in the eighth with one out and allowed a pinch-hit single to Hanser Alberto with two outs but got Sucre to ground softly into a 4-6 force.
After Voit's three-run shot made it 8-4, Aroldis Chapman came on in a non-save situation and allowed a leadoff hit and nothing else, striking out one.
