– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — One of the few things that traveled faster than the rocket Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton smashed over the wall on Wednesday evening was the rapidity with which Stanton joined the list of those reaching the historical home run landmark that his clout put him in.
Stanton drove in three runs, two coming on his 350th career home run — a two-run shot — in the first inning as the Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Wednesday for its season-best fifth straight victory. After Jordan Montgomery gave New York 5.2 solid innings to start, Michel King and Clay Holmes combined to go 3 1/3 innings and allowed just one hit to close out the win.
Coming off their 12-run outburst in last night’s wild 12-8 victory, New York wasted little time getting on the board this evening. Aaron Judge singled with one out and, two batters later, Stanton turned a Tyler Wells fastball around and smacked it 108.6 miles per hour into the second section of right field bleachers to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Home run No. 350 allowed Stanton, playing in his 1,341st game of his Major League career, to become the seventh-fastest player to reach 350 homers in terms of games played. The six above him is a who’s who of all-time sluggers: Mark McGwire, Juan Gonzalez, Alex Rodriguez, Harmon Killebrew, Albert Pujols and Babe Ruth.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Stanton, who also drove in the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. “When I began this journey, I didn’t really know what to expect or where I’d be, or how long I’d be around. So it’s a cool feat, and it helped us get a win and keep pushing.”
Though his average rose to just .242 after tonight, Stanton has had his best success this season so far against the Orioles, going 8-for-20 (.400) in five games against Baltimore this season with a home run and six runs batted in.
“On a cold night, to hit a no-doubter to the bleachers there in right-center, he had good swings all night,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s good to see him trending that way, but I’m excited for him to get to 350. That’s a pretty big number.”
Montgomery, who came into the evening without a win despite an ERA of 2.51 and a WHIP of just over one (1.05) once again pitched well enough to win but again earned a no-decision. He was one out away from going six scoreless innings before Anthony Santander hit a game-tying two-run home run to left to even the score. Santander’s homer extended his on-base streak to 18 games to start the season, the longest current on-base streak in baseball.
Reliever Michael King came on to get the final out of the sixth, then proceeded to pitch two more scoreless innings on his way to his second win of the season.
New York added a couple of tack-on runs late, including Joey Gallo’s second home run of the season — and second in as many days — in the bottom of seventh inning to extend New York’s lead to 4-2. Orioles reliever Dillon Tate later threw a wild pitch with Isiah Kiner-Falefa on third, allowing the latter to score and provide the game’s final margin.
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