7/30/12 Recap

       Last night, the Yankees and Freddy Garcia opened a 3-game set with Miguel Gonzalez and the Orioles. New York got on the board first as Eric Chavez hit an RBI single that scored Raul Ibanez in the bottom of the second. In the 3rd, Wilson Betemit tied the game with a solo shot for the O's. In the top of the fifth, former Met Omar Quintanilla hit a sacrifice fly that scored Betemit and give Baltimore a 2-1 lead. The next batter was Nick Markakis, and he hit a sac fly that scored Mark Reynolds and make it a 2-run game. In the bottom of the inning, Raul Ibanez got one of those runs back with a solo home run, and it was 3-2. In the top of the 7th, Boone Logan came into replace Freddy Garcia. Logan would face Nick Markakis with a runner on, and he doubled to bring home Quintanilla and would later score on an RBI single by JJ Hardy to make the game 5-2. In the bottom of the 7th, Eric Chavez hit a solo shot, and the next batter, Ichiro, hit his 100th career homer and his first as a Yankee. However, this was not enough as the Orioles took the victory 5-4.
       The Mets were in San Francisco to open a 4-game series with the Giants. There was no score until the bottom of the 3rd when Marco Scutaro hit an RBI single that brought home Brandon Belt and made the score 1-0 Giants. In the 4th, New York got their first lead of the night with a 2-run double by Ronny Cedeno and made the score 2-1 Mets. In the bottom of the fifth, Melky Cabrera hit an RBI single that tied the game. After a fielder's choice and an RBI single, San Francisco scored 2 runs to take a 4-2 lead. In the top of the eighth, Scott Hairston hit a 2-run shot into left to tie the game. Later in the inning, Justin Turner hit an RBI double that scored Jason Bay to give New York the lead. Turner would later come around to score on a Rob Johnson single to make it a 2-run lead. However, in the 9th, the Mets' bullpen blew it again on RBI doubles by Buster Posey and Nate Schierholtz to tie the ballgame once again as this one went to extras. In the top of the 10th, Hairston hit his second homer of the night to make it a 1-run Met lead, and a squeeze play would score Bay to make it 2 runs. New York almost blew it again in the bottom of the inning giving up 1 run and then loading the bases with two out for Brandon Belt. Belt hit one deep to center back on the warning track, but Jordany Valdespin made a nice running catch to end the game as the Mets win 2 straight for the first time since the 1st half.