Source: FanGraphs

In the Yankees’ most important game of the season (to date!), they received their best starting pitching performance of 2014 by someone not named Masahiro Tanaka. Rookie right-hander Shane Greene used his turbosinker to lead his team to a much-needed 3-0 win over the Orioles on Saturday afternoon. Let’s recap:

• Chien-Ming Greene: For at least one start, the Yankees found themselves another Chien-Ming Wang. Greene, in his second big league start, held the high-powered Orioles scoreless for 7.1 innings thanks to ten ground ball outs and nine strikeouts. Only three of the 27 batters he faced hit the ball out of the infield in the air. Greene took a no-hitter into the fifth and allowed just four singles plus two walks. When it looked like things might unravel following two singles to leadoff the sixth, he got a quick double play and a strikeout. That sinker (sat 94.1 according to PitchFX) is legit, man. As Joe Girardi said following the game, Greene is “earning starts, that’s what he’s doing.” Bravo, young man.
• Two Rallies, Three Runs: This game had a very familiar feel to it, especially after the Yankees wasted a leadoff walk and single in the second inning. Mark Teixeira doubled in a run in the third inning but the rally was cut short when Derek Jeter was thrown out at the plate. Nine of the next dozen Yankees made outs before a single (Kelly Johnson), a wild pitch, another single (Jeter), a double (Jacoby Ellsbury), an intentional walk (Teixeira), and a single (Brian McCann) created two more runs in the seventh. Again, the rally was cut short when Ellsbury was thrown out at the plate by a mile. Three runs was enough with the way Greene was pitching, but it maybe coulda been more.
• Bullpen on Parade: Greene retired the leadoff man in the eight before being lifted with his pitch count at 106. David Huff came in to face Nick Markakis, allowed a leadoff single, and was pulled. Shawn Kelley got a broken bat fly out (Steve Pearce) and a strikeout (Adam Jones) to end the threat before David Robertson threw a flawless ninth for his 23rd save. He struck out two (Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy). Remember when people were worried how Robertson would handle the ninth inning? I could count how many closers I would take over him on one hand.
• Thrown Out: Like I said, the Yankees had two runners thrown out at the plate in the game. The first one I kinda get — Teixeira doubled into the corner and it took a perfect throw and relay to cut Jeter down. The second one I don’t understand. The single was hit directly to Adam Jones, who has a very strong arm. He was ready to release the ball as Ellsbury was just rounding third. I mean, the two plays didn’t come back to hurt, but geez. The Yankees have had 15 runners thrown out the plate this year, the most in baseball the AL and two more than last year (h/t @ktsharp).
• Leftovers: McCann had three hits and is 12-for-35 (.343) on the road trip. He fouled a pitch off his foot in the seventh, but x-rays came back negative and he expected to play Sunday … Jeter had two hits, Ellsbury a hit and a walk, Teixeira a hit and two walks … Kelley threw seven pitches and got three swings and misses. He’s looked much better his last three or four outings … by Game Score (77), Greene’s start was the team’s best by a) a non-Tanaka starter this year, and b) a non-Tanaka rookie since Ivan Nova held the Reds to one run in eight innings in June 2011. Pretty, pretty good.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees are now four games back of the Orioles for the top spot in the AL East, and depending on the outcome of the late game, they will be either 2.5 (Mariners lose) or 3.5 (Mariners win) games back of the second wildcard spot. Girardi confirmed after the game that Chase Whitley will start the series and first half finale on Sunday night after not being needed in relief these last two days. Kevin Gausman will be on the bump for Baltimore.

Source: FanGraphs

That was not the best way to start the most important series of the season (to date!). The Yankees and Orioles needed extra innings to determine Friday’s series opener, which ended with New York’s sixth walk-off loss of the season. They had seven such losses last year. The O’s won 3-2 in ten innings. Let’s recap the loss:

• Two Homers: In what was a pretty cool moment, Brian Roberts hit a solo homer on the very first pitch he saw as a visiting player in Camden Yards. The home crowd was mostly indifferent. Just a few cheers and not what I expected for a guy like Roberts. Anyway, that was New York’s first run. Kelly Johnson plated the second one inning later with a solo homer of his own. It was his sixth of the year and first away from Yankee Stadium. Thus concludes the run-scoring portion of the recap.
• Wild Kuroda: On the surface, two runs on three singles and no walks in seven innings seems pretty damn awesome. Hiroki Kuroda was very wild though — the lack of walks had more to do with Baltimore’s general impatience than his strike-throwing — hitting two batters and uncorking three (very) wild pitches. The Orioles scored those two runs on one hit in fourth inning. Two wild pitches and two hit batters contributed to the rally. Kuroda really had to battle himself but ultimately gave the team a quality outing.
• Offense Asleep: Ichiro Suzuki hit a ground-run double with one out in the fourth inning, putting men at second and third with one out. Yangervis Solarte popped out and Johnson flew out to end the threat, and the Yankees did not pick up another hit until Brian McCann singled leading off the ninth. A botched bunt contributed to that failed rally. Twenty of the final 23 batters the Yankees sent to the plate made outs. Orioles pitchers threw 14 total pitches in the eighth and tenth innings. Click this.
• Leftovers: The top four hitters in the lineup went a combined 1-for-19 (.053) with five strikeouts while the bottom five hitters went 6-for-18 (.333) … Ichiro went 2-for-4 with two doubles, his sixth and seventh extra-base hits of the season … Dellin Betances struck out three and hit a batter in two scoreless innings … Adam Warren served up the walk-off loss on a Manny Machado double/Nick Hundley single combination … the Yankees drew one walk in ten innings and have a measly 5.5% walk rate in the last 15 games … with the loss, the Yankees are 17-19 against the AL East and 46-46 overall this season.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs has some other stats, and ESPN has the updated standings. The Yankees are now five games back of the Orioles for first place in the AL East and, depending on the outcome of the late game, they will be either 2.5 (Mariners lose) or 3.5 (Mariners win) games back of the second wildcard spot. Shane Greene will be asked to stop the bleeding on Saturday afternoon, when he’ll be opposed by Chris Tillman. A win would be cool.