Ivan Nova tossed his first career shutout while Robinson Cano did the heavy lifting for the offense as the Yankees defeated the Orioles 2-0 this afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Nova gave up just three hits (all of them singles), one walk, and two hit-by-pitches while striking out five batters. He induced 15 swinging strikes and needed just 103 pitches to finish off the victory. The 26-year-old right-hander has quietly posted a 2.88 ERA and 97/34 K/BB ratio over 109 1/3 innings this season. Hiroki Kuroda has hit a bit of a rough patch recently and CC Sabathia hasn’t looked like an ace all season, but Nova is filling the role of frontline starter quite nicely.
Cano drove in both runs for the Yankees, smacking an RBI double in the first inning and a solo home run in the eighth. Scott Feldman pitched admirably for the Orioles in the loss, allowing just one run on six hits and one walk over seven innings.
With the victory, the Yankees improved to 72-63 on the year and moved ahead of the Orioles in the AL Wild Card race. New York is now four games back while Baltimore is 4.5 games back. The Yankees will go for the series sweep tomorrow when they send Andy Pettitte to the hill against Wei-Yin Chen.
