BALTIMORE — Bryan Baker threw a 96-mph pitch by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and unleashed a roar in chorus with the 45,017 raucous fans at a sold-out Camden Yards.
The strikeout ended the eighth inning with the potential tying run at third base, and Baltimore closer Félix Bautista repeated the feat in the ninth as the Orioles held on to beat the New York Yankees, 7-6, in their first home game of the season.
The Orioles had already lost a 4-0 lead and were on the verge of letting a 7-5 advantage slip away when Baker entered with two on, no outs and a run already in. The first batter he faced, All-Star catcher Jose Trevino, tried to bunt those runners over, but when Baker’s first two pitches missed the strike zone, Trevino swung away. Gold Glove third baseman Ramón Urías, who doubled in the go-ahead run and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the seventh, snared a 105.4-mph ground ball to start a double play. Baker’s strikeout of Kiner-Falefa came with Oriole Park’s crowd on its feet and elicited chest slaps and yells from the right-hander.
