Rodriguez ends homer drought as Yankees top Orioles
NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run in a month, Ivan Nova pitched six effective innings and the New York Yankees opened a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles with a 2-1 victory on Monday night.
Rodriguez started for the fourth straight game after ending the first half as a part-time player against left-handed pitching and homered in his first at-bat against Kevin Gauman (1-7). It was Rodriguez's first home run since June 18 in Minnesota and the 696th of his career.
The 40-year-old's ninth home run came after Ivan Nova (7-5) left the bases loaded in the first and stranded the leadoff hitter in the second. Nova allowed one run and four hits after struggling through the early portions of the game but gave the Yankees six innings for the first time in six starts.
Nova allowed a leadoff home run to Jonathan Schoop in the third but retired 12 of the final 14 hitters he faced.
The Yankees held the lead after Brian McCann lifted a sacrifice fly in the fourth and Nova turned it over to the bullpen after 97 pitches.
Dellin Betances stranded Ryan Flaherty at third when he ended a hitless seventh by striking out Schoop. Andrew Miller ended a scoreless eighth by getting Matt Wieters to bounce into a double play. Aroldis Chapman retired Flaherty for the final out of the ninth with the tying run on first for his 19th save in 20 opportunities.
Nova's outing helped the Yankees (46-46) get to the .500 mark for the ninth time since May 24 and sliced their deficit in the American League East to 7 1/2 games.
Gausman continued to get little run support from his offense and allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was lifted after Rob Refsnyder's infield single.
Both pitchers threw 60 pitches through the first three innings and the Yankees held a 2-1 lead.
Rodriguez gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead when he led off the second by driving Gausman's 2-0 fastball into the left field seats.
Schoop opened the third by sending Nova's 2-1 pitch over the left-center field wall into Baltimore's bullpen.
After Nova fanned Pedro Alvarez to end the inning, the Yankees regained the lead in the fourth on McCann's sacrifice fly. New York had two on after Rodriguez walked, but Gausman struck out Didi Gregorius.
NOTES: Baltimore 1B Chris Davis (stomach virus) was not in the starting lineup on Monday, marking the second game he missed this season. Manager Buck Showalter said Davis became sick on the flight from Tampa Bay and spent last night at a hospital. ... New York 1B Mark Teixeira (sore left foot) missed his second straight game. Manager Joe Girardi said Teixeira still feels soreness and is unsure if he will play any of the games against the Orioles. ... OF Hyun Soo Kim (hamstring) missed his fourth straight game in the series opener, but will test the injury Tuesday. ... New York OF Mason Williams was activated from the 60-day disabled list and assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Williams had been on the DL with a shoulder injury since June 2015.