Anthony Santander hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 1-0 victory against the New York Yankees in Friday night's opener of a three-game series.
It turned into a splendid pitching matchup between All-Star Gerrit Cole of the Yankees and rookie Grayson Rodriguez of the Orioles in a game delayed for 2 1/2 hours before the first pitch because of messy weather.
Santander's 18th home run of the season was the only extra-base hit in the game. It came off Tommy Kahnle (1-1).
The AL East-leading Orioles snapped a two-game skid, and the last-place Yankees were shut out for the fifth time. Felix Bautista (6-1), the fifth Baltimore pitcher, struck out two batters in a perfect ninth for the victory.
Aaron Judge was in the Yankees lineup as the designated hitter and batting in the No. 2 spot after sitting out since June 3 because of a torn toe ligament. He went 0-for-1 with three walks.
Cole departed after seven shutout innings that included a season-high 110 pitches. He gave up three hits without a walk and struck out five. Michael King and Wandy Peralta followed Cole on the mound for the Yankees.
Rodriguez threw 6 1/3 spectacular innings, limiting the Yankees to three singles. The highly regarded right-hander walked two and struck out four.
Rodriguez came out after DJ LeMahieu's one-out single in the seventh. Shintaro Fujinami was summoned from the bullpen. After Billy McKinney walked, Harrison Bader grounded into a double play.
It was just Fujinami's fourth game with Baltimore since arriving in a trade from Oakland.
In their 12th game since the All-Star break, the Yankees failed to score more than three for the seventh time.
The Yankees put two runners on base in the eighth, with Jake Bauers providing a one-out, pinch-hit single and Judge drawing his third walk with two outs. That threat developed against Yennier Cano and ended when Danny Coulombe induced Anthony Rizzo's groundout.
Through six innings, there were a total of five hits -- three for the Orioles, two for the Yankees -- and all of them were singles.
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