It had been a while. Giancarlo Stanton had contributed in the 14 games he played without hitting a home run, but not like this. Wednesday night, the Yankee outfielder ended his homer slump, hitting his 350th career dinger, and drove in three runs altogether as the Bombers beat the Orioles 5-2 at the Stadium.
It was a season-high fifth-straight win for the Yankees (12-6) who clinched the best of three-games series, and in front of in front of 31,115 shivering fans. They previously lost two out of three games to the Orioles (6-12) in Baltimore.
Michael King earned his second win of the season, bailing out Jordan Montgomery, who really only made one big mistake. Clay Holmes pitched a clean ninth inning and picked up his second save.
And Joey Gallo, who went 15 games without a home run, hit his second in as many games. Isiah Kiner-Falefa also extended his hitting streak to eight games and scored on a wild pitch, while DJ LeMahieu saw his 12-game hitting streak snapped.
Stanton finally reached the 350-home run mark after sitting on No. 349 for 14 games. The Yankees slugger hit No. 349 on the second day of the season and 55 at-bats later, he hit the milestone in the first inning Wednesday night. Stanton’s 350th long ball was a 417-foot shot to right-center field and made him the 97th player in major league baseball to reach the 350-mark. His homer, off Orioles right-hander Tyler Wells, also gave the Yankees’ a 2-0 lead.
His sacrifice fly in the sixth inning got the Yankees a 3-2 lead. He also singled in the eighth.
Stanton reached the home run milestone at his 1,341st game, making him the seventh fastest player to reach the mark. The 14 games without a home run was one shy of his longest homer-less streak with the Yankees.
That was all the offense the Yankees managed for Montgomery, who has been under-the-radar consistently good this season.
Montgomery had pitched 10-straight scoreless innings dating back to last week against the Orioles, before Anthony Santander got to him in the sixth inning Wednesday night. Santander jumped on Montgomery’s 81 mile per hour changeup for a 427-foot homer to left-center with two outs.
Montgomery’s changeup had been very effective up until that point. He got eight called strikes and two whiffs on the pitch. He also got 10 on his fastball.
The 29-year-old allowed the two runs on four hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. He did hit Austin Hays with a pitch after giving up the home run, but Michael King got the Yankees out of the inning unscathed.
Mongtomery has been solid to start the season, but has little to show for it. He’s had very little run support dating back to last year.
Wednesday night, after scoring 22 runs in the two previous games, the Yankees managed just two while Montgomery was on the hook.
“The one thing is that I’ve been pleased with how Monty handled that because obviously, last year was a year where there was a long stretch in there where we didn’t score almost anything with him out on the mound,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I am just really proud of the way he handles that. He’s a great teammate. He never blames anything, he’s super accountable. And he expects a lot from himself, and he’s really competitive. And that doesn’t change for him whether he’s going through a stretch where we haven’t gotten a lot of runs. I don’t think his mindset changes at all, which is a good thing.”
Gallo’s home run off Felix Bautista in the seventh was his second of the season. The 404-foot shot to right-center field was the first time he hit homers in back-to-back games since he hit three dingers in two games against Cleveland Sept. 16-17, 2021.
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