A series of unfortunate events in the 7th and 8th innings sent the Orioles to their second straight loss to the Yankees with a 5-3 defeat.
With the game tied at 3-3, Pete Alonso stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the 7th. Lefty reliever Brent Headrick’s first pitch to the Polar Bear was a hanging slider that Alonso launched toward the left field foul pole. From the broadcast angle, it looked too close to call, and the on-field call was a foul ball. When the Orioles challenged the call, the replays
sure made it look like the ball sailed over the top of the foul pole and should have been a home run. New York (the replay center) declined to overturn the call, and after Alonso struck out, the game went to the 8th still knotted at three.
The Orioles’ fortunes went from bad to worse as Cam Sanders took the mound in the top of the 8th. After Luis García Jr. lined out to start the inning, Sanders plunked Heliot Ramos and walked Jazz Chisholm to put the winning run in scoring position. The relief hero from the Rays series struck out Spencer Jones, but then grazed pinch hitter José Caballero to load the bases.
At that point, manager Craig Albernaz decided he’s seen enough from Sanders, and brought in Yennier Cano to get the final out of the inning. Against George Lombard Jr., Cano ran a sinker in on his hands, and the Yankees’ rookie weakly tapped the ball down the third base line. The ball was hit so slowly that Coby Mayo had no place at first and the Yankees took a 4-3 lead. Cano then bounced a splitter to Austin Wells and Yohel Pozo couldn’t find the ball as Chisholm raced home for the Yankees’ fifth run.
The Orioles would get the tying run on base in the bottom of the 8th after a one-out Samuel Basallo single and a two-out Dylan Beavers walk. However, Leody Taveras could only pop up a changeup to strand both runners. The Yankees couldn’t extend the lead in the top of the 9th, ending the inning on a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.
Facing New York closer David Bednar for the second night in a row, the Orioles couldn’t muster a comeback attempt. Colton Cowser grounded out to second for the first, pinch hitter Christian Encarnacion-Strand struck out for the second and Jackson Holliday lifted a lazy fly out to left to seal the loss.
For the second night in a row, sustained offense was hard to come by for the O’s. They took a lead in the first without getting a hit. Walks by Holliday and Gunnar Henderson turned into a 1-0 lead after Holliday moved to third on a Basallo fly out before the middle infielders executed a double steal of second and home.
Baltimore’s only other offense came via the long ball. Alonso hit his 14th opposite-field homer of the season in the 3rd to cut a two-run Yankees lead in half. Dylan Beavers tied the game in the 6th with a solo shot of his own, sending a towering fly into the left field bullpens. Outside of the two home runs, the offense was familiarly stagnant, with the Orioles going 0-for-6 with RISP and striking out 11 times.
Starter Chris Bassitt wasn’t especially sharp Wednesday night, but he did enough to keep the Orioles in the game. Early on, it seemed like the Yankees would put up a crooked number against the 37-year-old right-hander. Trent Grisham and Ben Rice started the game with nearly identical bouncing singles to right field. The early traffic didn’t faze Bassitt, however, getting García to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play before Heliot Ramos grounded out to second to end the inning.
The veteran righty couldn’t pull off a similar escape act in the 2nd inning. After being staked a 1-0 lead, Bassitt started the second frame by walking Jazz Chisholm Jr. on six pitches. Spencer Jones then continued the theme from the 1st inning, bouncing a single into right to move Chisholm to third.
Ryan McMahon then continued to pepper the baseball to right field, singling on a hard line drive to right that brought home Chisholm but was hit hard enough that McMahon got gunned down at second. With the game now tied and Jones at third, rookie George Lombard Jr. stepped up and launched a sac fly to right that put the Yankees up 2-1.
New York tagged Bassitt for another run in the 3rd thanks to the bat of the All-Star Rice. After a Grisham groundout started the inning, Rice got a 3-2 fastball and sent a towering blast 431 feet over the right-center fence. It looked like things would go from bad to worse after back-to-back singles from García and Ramos. However, Basallo came up with a diving snag at first for the second out, and then Bassitt struck out Jones to end the frame.
The Orioles’ righty then became a different pitcher. He worked a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, including strikeouts of McMahon and Lombard. Bassitt struck out Grisham to begin the 5th and then rolled back-to-back unassisted ground outs to first for another scoreless frame. His streak of nine straight Yankees retired ended on a Chisholm single in the 6th. Bassitt finished his outing with a strikeout of Jones for his sixth punchout of the night. After Grant Wolfram entered and got the final out of the inning, it closed Bassitt’s line at 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB and 6 Ks.
The Orioles’ third-straight loss drops them 1.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot. Baltimore will try to avoid a sweep when Kyle Bradish faces Gerrit Cole tomorrow night.
