O Yankees lost the rubber game of their three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday afternoon with an ugly 17-5 loss, allowing three home runs in the process and committing three fielding errors.
Here are the conclusions…
–Luis Gil received initial approval for New York and played his worst game of the season, failing to make it out of the second round. It was the shortest start of the right-hander’s career, as he lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, including a home run, a walk and a strikeout. Gil’s ERA rose from 2.03 to 2.77 after the difficult performance.
It all started in the first round after Juan Soto miscalculated a bullet in left field early on Gunnar Henderson this was for an early double. Gil had a chance to catch his outfielder and get out of the inning unscathed after recording the next two outs, but Ryan O’Hearn lined an RBI single to center on a 3-2 pitch that opened the scoring.
The wheels completely fell off in the second when Gil surrendered six hits, two walks and hit a batter en route to six runs scored in the inning. The biggest blows came Cedric Mullins who had a two-run shot that extended Baltimore’s lead to 3-0 and Ryan MountcastleThe bases-clearing double that gave the Orioles a 6-0 lead. The final run of the frame came off a loaded base hit by pitch to Jordan Westburg This ended Gil’s disastrous day.
-With the bases still charged and just outside, Michael Tonkin he was the first reliever called and did a good job getting out of that situation with a popout and a strikeout. Asked to throw multiple innings, Tonkin came back for third but allowed one run thanks to two walks, a ground-rule double and a sacrifice fly.
-The Yankees slowed down in the second inning, getting on the board with Gleyber Torres‘ Solo home run. They scored two more in the third with another long pass, this time in the face of the Aaron Judge who hit his major league-leading 27th home run in his return to the lineup after a one-game absence due to a blow to his hand in Tuesday night’s series opener. The injury obviously didn’t affect the outfielder, as he finished the day 2-for-3 with three RBI to add to his case for another MVP award.
-Down 8-3 entering the fifth, reliever Tim Hillwho was signed by New York earlier in the day, entered the game to make his debut in stripes. It didn’t go as planned. Things got off to a rocky start when Henderson turned in his second double of the game. After stealing third base, Henderson was shot at home by Torres at second base on a fielder’s choice. The next batter also reached on a fielder’s choice past third base Oswaldo Cabrera decided to throw to second base and get the lead runner out with a weak ground ball instead of hitting first base. The move was not good and everyone was sure of the mistake.
Cabrera made up for it a bit in the next batter with a nice fly on a line drive that would have been the last out of the inning had he made the proper throw earlier. Instead, after missing four shots in a row, Antonio Santander lifted a three-run homer to right-center field that gave Baltimore an eight-run lead.
-The Yanks continued to fight, getting two of those runs in the bottom half of the inning to cut the deficit to 11-5. But that wouldn’t matter as the Orioles continued to pile up, scoring one in the sixth, two in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth. Austin Hays He hit Baltimore’s third home run, which made it 14-5. O’Hearn added two more with a single in the eighth.
-Meanwhile, New York couldn’t get out of its way, committing three errors on the day – two by Cabrera and one by Torres that left the game in the sixth with groin tightness.
-Overall, the Yankees allowed 17 runs on 19 hits (10 extra-base hits), seven walks and two HBPs, as the Orioles scored in all but one inning in a very poorly played game by New York.
-The team used eight pitchers, the last being the catcher José Trevino who pitched the ninth inning, allowing one run on three hits and one walk.
-The Yankees are now 2-5 against Baltimore this season, as the two teams are separated by just 0.5 games for first place in the AL East.
Game MVP: Gunnar Henderson
Henderson set the tone at the top of the Orioles lineup, finishing 3-for-5 with two doubles, a walk and scoring three runs, including the first run of the game in the top of the first inning.
Highlights
What is the next
The Yankees open a three-game weekend series with the Atlanta Braves at home, beginning Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
Some successful lefties come out on top as LHP Carlos Rodon (9-3, 3.28 ERA) faces LHP Chris Sale (9-2, ERA 2.98).
