“It wasn’t a jewel for us, for sure. We escaped tonight. We scored enough runs to win.”JOE TORRE
Yankees 12
Orioles 9
When the Yankees rode roughshod over Baltimore for nine runs in the first two innings, it appeared that Aaron Small could coast last night.
And there was certainly no way, with a seven-run lead entering the sixth, that Tom Gordon or Mariano Rivera would be needed.
Well, guess again.
Gordon was called upon for the eighth, and Rivera was summoned with nobody out in the ninth when the deplorable Alan Embree allowed a run on two hits.
The Yanks finished off an ugly 12-9 victory over Baltimore. But this time of year, Joe Torre isn’t taking any chances.
“It wasn’t a jewel for us, for sure,” Torre said after the Yanks’ eighth victory in nine games. “We escaped tonight. We scored enough runs to win.
“I guess you’re going to have to throw in an ugly one here and there.”
Since Boston routed Tampa Bay, 15-2, the Yanks remained a half-game behind the Red Sox with 12 to play. And they climbed within a half-game of the wild-card lead with the Indians’ 7-6, 10th-inning loss to Chicago.
After Jorge Posada’s three-run, first-inning jack and Gary Sheffield’s second-inning grand slam paced the offense, Small (9-0) exited without recording an out in the sixth and the bullpen sweated out a Baltimore comeback.
“It was more of a battle tonight,” Small said. “I didn’t feel like I really had much.
“It was a good night to have run support. It was tough, but we got it done.”
Do the Yankees feel like they’re in the driver’s seat?
“Until we’re in first place, no,” said Sheffield, who collected three hits and six RBIs. “We’ve just gotta keep winning, and if we take over first place, we’ve got to pour it on even more.
“You don’t want to take nothing for granted, you don’t want to leave it down to one game or any game. You want to put it in your own hands and take over.”
Scott Proctor served up Jay Gibbons’ two-run homer in the seventh, and Gordon surrendered a run in the eighth. Embree, who owns the distinction of being horrible with the Red Sox and Yankees in the same year, was charged with another two runs in the ninth.
“He’s had experience at the top level and he’s done well,” said Torre, who chatted with him after the game. “His stuff is good.
“You look up there and his [velocity] numbers are right where they should be. We just need for him to make better pitches.”
Luckily for the Yanks, Alex Rodriguez’ 45th homer and Sheffield’s sixth RBI of the game, in the bottom of the eighth, provided breathing room.
A-Rod’s remarkable opposite-field, upper-deck homer left him one behind Joe DiMaggio’s team homer record for righties, set in 1937.
Sheffield smoked his first two extra-base hits since going down with a strained left thigh on Sept. 7. His towering second-inning granny just inside the left-field line off Baltimore reliever James Baldwin followed Posada’s three-run, first-inning bomb into the right-field bleachers off Baltimore starter John Maine.
Small had given back three runs in the top of the second, and the Yankee defense helped him. Robinson Cano double-clutched on a B.J. Surhoff one-out single and Crosby misplayed a Brian Roberts hit into a two-run triple.
Roberts dislocated his left elbow in the bottom of the second on a grotesque collision with Bubba Crosby while covering first on a bunt.
“It was ugly,” Torre said.