Anthony Rizzo hits three HRs as Yankees power past Orioles

Anthony Rizzo continues to show why once the Yankees failed in their attempt at trading for Oakland’s Matt Olson, he was their top choice on the free-agent market to fill their needs at first base.

Riding the first three-homer game of Rizzo’s career, the Yankees beat the Orioles, 12-8, Tuesday night at the Stadium.

“It’s a game that I’ll never forget,” Rizzo said.

The lefty-swinging Rizzo, who leads the majors in homers with eight, hit a three-run homer in the third inning, a two-run shot in the fifth and a solo blast in the eighth, which came after a solo bomb by Aaron Judge, pushing the Yankees’ lead to 12-8.

The shot in the eighth was a towering drive that hugged the rightfield line and appeared as if it would land foul…until the very last moment when it barely drifted fair.  No one seemed more surprised than Rizzo, who watched the ball flight and wore a look of absolute shock when first base umpire Nestor Ceja signaled home run.

“For me, I thought it was definitely foul,” Rizzo said. “Obviously, I’ve never hit three homers in a game so it’s a cool way for it to come back and be fair. I thought there was a zero percent chance it would be fair.”

The Yankees (11-6), winners of four straight, also got a solo homer by Joey Gallo and saw Luis Severino take a no-hitter into the sixth inning. They’ve won six of their last seven after dropping a weekend series in Baltimore April 15-17.

The Yankees totaled 13 hits, getting the three from Rizzo, as well as two apiece from DJ LeMahieu, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Gleyber Torres added a bases-clearing triple in a four-run seventh that turned a 6-4 lead into a 10-4 advantage.

“Good to see us continue to add on because it’s not going to be perfect every night,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, our bullpen’s been about as lights out as you can [be]…it was important tonight that we continued to add on and good to see the offense really support the pitching, because the pitching, in a lot of ways, has carried us to this point early on.”

The Orioles (6-11) managed seven hits, one of them a three-run shot by Austin Hays off Jonathan Loaisiga, who replaced an ineffective Lucas Luetge in a four-run eighth that made it 10-8.

Rizzo cracked a three-run shot in the third off Jordan Lyles and after Gallo made it 4-0 in the fourth for the struggling outfielder’s first homer of the season – his teammates gave him the “silent” treatment in the dugout when Gallo returned – the first baseman hit a two-run blast in the fifth, also against Lyles, to make it 6-0.

Severino (2-0), who came in with a 2.08 ERA, was brilliant over five innings, a two-out walk to Hays in the fifth inning the only blemish on his scorecard to that point.

But Jorge Mateo, a former Yankee, singled with one out in the sixth and after Cedric Mullins walked Anthony Santander poked a first-pitch changeup just over the wall in left to make it 6-3. Severino retired two straight and came back out for the seventh but was replaced by Clay Holmes after a leadoff double by Rougned Odor, a Yankee last season. Holmes allowed the inherited runner to score – which made it 6-4 – closing the book on Severino, who pitched better than his final line. Severino allowed four runs, three hits and two walks over six innings-plus in which he struck out five. 

But on this night, it was all about Rizzo, a deadline acquisition last season whom the Yankees prioritized this offseason for a reason.

“He’s meant a lot to us,” Severino said before smiling.

 “We’ve got a tremendous first baseman and he can hit three homers in one game,” Severino added. “He’s a great hitter. He’s a great defender. Every time he steps in the box we expect a lot of good things.”