Kevin Gausman ends road skid as Baltimore Orioles blank New York Yankees

NEW YORK -- Forty home runs was a nice number for Mark Trumbo to achieve. So was ending a streak of 25 straight winless road starts for Kevin Gausman.

The nicest number, however, for the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday was one.

As in getting the one win at the end of a frustrating weekend in Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles achieved their desired win when Trumbo became the first major leaguer to reach 40 home runs and Gausman pitched seven effective innings for his road win in over two years during a 5-0 victory over the New York Yankees.

"That was probably as good as I've seen him," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said.

Baltimore (71-59) won for the fifth time in its last 13 games and remained three games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, heading into a three-game series with the division leaders. They erased the sting and disappointment of allowing 27 runs and 36 hits the previous two days by getting an ace-like showing from Gausman along with big hits by Steve Pearce and Trumbo.

Gausman (6-10) won his third straight start by allowing seven hits and tying a season high with nine strikeouts He turned in his second consecutive scoreless outing by holding the Yankees to two hits in 12 at-bats with runners on base while throwing 108 pitches.

"I'm just happy we got a win out here," Gausman said. "Obviously the first two games didn't go the way we wanted. My goal is just to go deep in games. Whether I was getting beat up or not, I wanted to go seven out there, give those guys a break."

The combination of Gausman and the big hits allowed the right-hander to win a road start for the first time since Aug. 22, 2014. He had been 0-16 with a 5.55 ERA since his last road win, including a 0-9 mark this season outside of Baltimore.

"I'm just happy we got a win as a team," Gausman said. "I pitched well enough to get multiple wins on the road this year. I had some tough no-decisions but today kind of went my way.

Gausman gave the bullpen a break by going at least seven innings for the fifth time and matching CC Sabathia (8-11) for five innings in a scoreless game.

"He did a fabulous job," Orioles reliever Tommy Hunter said. "He did what he's supposed to do."

The scoreless game duel ended when Pearce drove a 2-2 fastball over the left field wall for his 12th home run to start the sixth. The Orioles knocked out Sabathia with two outs in the seventh and Pearce came through again with a bases-loaded two-run single off Adam Warren to make it 3-0.

Then came the big piece of insurance for the Orioles, a 427-foot drive into the visiting bullpen beyond the left-center field fence. with one out in the eighth off Ben Heller. The drive was Baltimore's 204th home run and it made Trumbo the fifth-fastest Oriole to reach 40.

"If I had to say it's probably a little bit more special," Trumbo said. "They're all special and this is a big part of my game."

Rookie Gary Sanchez had two more hits but the Yankees were shut out for the seventh time and lost for the sixth time in 11 games. They dropped back to 3 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the second wild card spot.

"It's not what you want but we're playing good baseball and winning series," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "But we're playing good baseball and winning series and that's what we need to continue to do. If someone says you're going to win a series against Baltimore, I think you have to feel pretty positive about that."

Sabathia allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. Moved up a day because of good numbers against the Orioles, he allowed two hits before Pearce connected.

"You want to win games," Sabathia said. "Gausman was pitching good, so I was trying to keep us in thee."

NOTES: The Orioles made four roster moves Sunday as they signed RHP Tommy Hunter and recalled RHP Oliver Drake from Triple-A Norfolk. To add their two newest pitchers, the Orioles designated LHP T.J. McFarland and OF Julio Borbon. ... 3B Chase Headley was out of the starting lineup again as the Yankees ride the production of 3B Ronald Torreyes. Manager Joe Girardi said Headley would start at some point this week. ... Baltimore RHP Chris Tillman (shoulder bursitis) will throw Monday but the team does not expect him to return before Sept. 9 or 10. ... RHP Bryan Mitchell is scheduled to start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre but the Yankees have not discussed how they will use him if he gets recalled. Mitchell has not pitched this season in the majors due to a foot injury sustained late in spring training.