The champagne will have to stay on ice for at least another night, as the Yankees dropped
the opening game of a three-game set to the Baltimore Orioles 5-3.
Solo home runs off the bats of Anthony Santander, Ramon Urias, and Colton Cowser helped guide the Orioles to a victory while canceling out Aaron Judge’s 56th home run of the season.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer was the winning pitcher, tossing five innings, striking out three, and allowing one run on three hits.
“I thought he did a good job at the top of the zone with his fastball, getting it where he
wanted to.” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The splitter looked good to me tonight, he
kept us at bay until Aaron hit a good pitch off of him.”
Clarke Schmidt, the starter for the Yankees (92-65), was charged with the loss. Seranthony Dominguez picked up the save for the O’s.
The Orioles were the first to score after Schmidt retired the game’s first four batters in order. Jordan Westburg singled, and Ryan O’Hearn hit a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third with only one out. Heston Kjerstad made Schmidt pay for the back-to-back hits, driving in a run on a ground out to Gleyber Torres.
That was the only scoring through the first three innings of the game, as after Torres reached on the opening at-bat of the game, Kremer retired nine batters in a row, and the Orioles held a one-run lead after three.
The Yankees finally found their way onto the scoreboard when Judge sent his 56th home run of the season 407 feet into the left-center-field seats. As Judge’s foot touched home, the crowd serenaded Judge with “MVP” chants, an award that the slugger looks well on his way to winning.
The Yankees had an opportunity to tie the game in the fifth, with runners on first and second with no outs. But after Alex Verdugo grounded into a double play, Torres flew out to the warning track to keep New York’s deficit at one.
After the Yankees failed to tie the game, the Orioles doubled their lead, as with one out and a 3-2 count, Santander pulled an 85 mph sweeper off the foul pole to put the visitors p 3-1 while driving Schmidt out of the game.
Schmidt finished the game having pitched 5.1 innings, striking out seven, and allowing three runs on four hits. Tim Mayza came in and recorded the final two outs of the inning for the Yankees, and following a scoreless bottom sixth, the Orioles added yet another, as Urias hit his 11th home run of the season into the Yankee bullpen to give the Orioles a commanding 4-1 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Yankees were once again threatening when Anthony
Rizzo reached on a ground-rule double, and a Verdugo infield single put runners on the corners with two outs. On a 2-1 count, Torres sent a Yannier Cano changeup the other way into the corner for a ground-rule double, cutting the Baltimore lead to 4-2.
Juan Soto got the Yankees to within one when he sent a line drive into right, scoring Verdugo. However, a base-running blunder by Torres got him caught in a rundown, where he was tagged out, ending the inning with the Orioles clinging to a one-run lead.
“I think [Torres] thought Soto was going to be out,” Boone said. “But you gotta commit to either going or bluff him. He pulled off, so he got caught in between. His initial thought was that Juan might be out at second, so he’s trying to protect him. But again, it either needs to be a bluff or a sell-out and go.”
The blunder immediately came back to bite the Yankees as the first batter reliever Ian Hamilton faced, Colton Cowser, sent the ball 432 feet into the right-field bleachers, giving the Orioles a 5-3 lead.
