Yankees Take Holiday Matinee vs. O's

It was a hot 4th of July. It rained, too, and today's holiday matinee at Yankee Stadium was delayed half an hour.

Clarke Schmidt started against the Baltimore Orioles, and pitched shutout ball over the 1st 4 innings. But, in the 5th, he gave up a home run to, of all people, former Yankee Aaron Hicks. And Hicks still got booed by the Bronx crowd. Schmidt ended up giving up 3 runs in that inning, and left thereafter.

Gleyber Torres hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 1st. He nearly had another homer in the 3rd, but it was caught at the warning track. Isiah Kiner-Falefa got a run home in the 4th with a sacrifice fly. But Schmidt's wobble in the 5th allowed the O's to tie the game.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. To start the bottom of the 5th, Jose Trevino drew a walk on Kyle Gibson. It turned out not to mean anything, as Anthony Rizzo grounded into a double play. But Torres drew a walk. Giancarlo Stanton hit one up the gap. So often, Torres has been criticized for a lack of hustle. This time, he ran through the stop sign put up by 3rd base coach -- and former Mets manager -- Luis Rojas, and managed to score all the way from 1st base, giving the Yankees the lead.

The Yankees picked up 3 runs in the 7th, including a home run by Trevino. They got another in the 8th. The Orioles picked up a run in the 9th, but Albert Abreu finished it off. Yankees 8, Orioles 4. WP: Schmidt (4-6). No save. LP: Gibson (8-6).

The series continues tomorrow night. Randy Vásquez starts against Dean Kremer.

Happy Independence Day. Happy Lou Gehrig Day. Happy George Steinbrenner's Birthday. And happy John Sterling's Birthday. As I said yesterday, Celebrate safely, everyone: Be careful on the grill, don't drink too much, and leave the fireworks to the professionals.