Gio Urshela's three-run homer powers Yankees past Orioles, 5-4

BALTIMORE — Gio Urshela was hobbling around third base on Thursday night and as expected not in the lineup Friday afternoon. Aaron Boone, however, insisted that the third baseman could very much be a factor in Friday night’s game.

It was almost like the manager had a premonition.

Urshela crushed a pinch-hit home run in the top of the seventh to rally the Yankees to a 5-4 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards.

It was the Yankees’ first pinch-hit homer of the season and the second of Urshela’s career. It gave the Yankees their third win on the road trip and 10th win in their last 13 games. It got Corey Kluber off the hook — and Clint Frazier too.

After Miguel Andujar snapped an 0-for-15 start to the season with a ground-ball single up the middle and Kyle Higashioka drew a walk, with the Yankees trailing 4-2, Aaron Boone called on Urshela to hit for Tyler Wade.

It was a beautiful at-bat.

At 2-2, Urshela fouled off four straight pitches, two cutters, two fastballs before Travis Lakins, Sr. threw a 93-mph slider that didn’t break. Urshela launched it high into the bleachers in right-center field.

Urshela had missed three games last weekend with swelling in his left knee and Thursday night, he hobbled around favoring it as the Yankees got beat by the Rays. Boone admitted it was something that Urshela had just been getting treatment for and trying to maintain all week. Boone said that Urshela had come in Friday and was feeling OK and even with Gleyber Torres missing his third game on the COVID-19 list, the manager thought he needed a day to rest.

“He’s actually good,” Boone had said about Urshela. “I would say he’s very much in play tonight. So he came in and he actually was doing pretty good late last night and felt good today. I still decided to give him the day, but I consider him very much in play tonight.”

But, with the Yankees offense struggling of late, that was the perfect spot for Urshela has proven to be up to big moments. It was his 14th (out of 32) homers with the Yankees that has either given them the lead or tied a game. Wednesday night, Urshela’s double, which set up Aaron Hicks’ game-winning sacrifice fly got overshadowed by Gerrit Cole’s dominating performance.

Friday night, however, it was Urshela’s clutch homer which overshadowed a hot night by slugger Aaron Judge.

Judge gave Kluber a lead before he even got to the mound with his ninth homer of the season, a solo shot to left field. He gave the Yankees another lead, 2-1 this time, in the fourth with a shot off the top of the right-center-field wall.

It was his 13th career multi-home run game and the Yankees’ sixth of the season, the first since DJ LeMahieu hit two May 7 against the Nationals. It was Judge’s third of the season, leading the major leagues.

Kluber could not hold them.

He gave up a first-inning homer to Austin Hays and three runs on two doubles and a single in the fifth. Kluber, who reached 1,500 career strikeouts when he punched out Cedric Mullins in the third inning, struck out six and walked two over six innings of work.

He was let off the hook with Urshela’s homer and so too was Frazier, who made yet another baserunning gaffe.

The last time the Yankees were here, Frazier made an inexplicable baserunning mistake trying to take third from second on a ground ball to shortstop.

Friday night, after the struggling outfielder finally picked up his seventh hit in his last 54 at-bats, he managed to run into an out with a strange mistake. He singled with one out in the fourth, but then got caught indecisively standing halfway between second and first when Brett Gardner’s high popup was dropped in the outfield. He finally ran back to first where Gardner was standing safely and the Orioles easily forced him out at second.