Yankee 1B Ben Rice homered twice, including the game-winning solo shot in the 8th, as the Orioles dropped their final game of the 2025 season 3-2 in the Bronx.
With the game tied 2-2 in the 8th, interim manager Tony Mansolino left in reliever Rico Garcia to face the heart of the Yankees’ order. Garcia had finished the 7th with back-to-back strikeouts, and Mansolino and the Orioles hoped Garcia could continue to hold the Yankee bats at bay in the 8th. Instead, Rice jumped on a 2-2 fastball at the top
of the zone and launched it over the left-center fence to give New York a 3-2 lead.
The second Rice long ball of the day sent the Yankees into the 9th clinging to a one-run lead. Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Dylan Beavers were tasked with extending the Orioles’ season against closer David Bednar. Rutshcman got them off to a good start, working a six-pitch walk before being replaced by pinch runner Jorge Mateo.
Mountcastle couldn’t move Mateo over, as he hit a slow roller to shortstop. After a 6-4 force out at second, Mountcastle beat the throw to first and was awarded an extra base when Jazz Chisolm Jr.‘s throw sailed into the dugout. The promise of a game-tying hit was quickly erased, though, as Beavers and Colton Cowser struck out to end the game and the Orioles’ season.
Game 162 was yet another instance of the 2025 O’s failing to find the offense they needed to win. Baltimore briefly took a 2-1 lead in the 4th thanks to back-to-back home runs from Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson. Trailing 1-0, Westburg attacked a high fastball from Yankee starter Luis Gil, blasting it the other way into the left-center bullpen to tie the game.
Henderson then gave the O’s their only lead of the afternoon four pitches later, launching his own solo shot just over the outstretched glove of Aaron Judge in right. Both Westburg and Henderson’s home runs gave them 17 long balls on the season, tying Jackson Holliday for the team lead on the final day of the season.
Kyle Bradish was not as sharp as last Sunday’s outing vs. the Yankees, but still managed to make New York look foolish plenty over four innings of work. The first batter he faced turned into a quintessential Bradish AB, as he started the bottom of the 1st by punching out Trent Grisham on a back-foot slider.
The second batter he faced saw Rice continue his torment of the Orioles right-hander. Rice had the only two hits Bradish gave up a week ago, and christened their reunion by blasting a first-pitch fastball over the center field fence to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
After the Rice homer, Bradish locked back in and started mowing down Yankee batters. He ended the first on back-to-back groundouts from Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, then struck the side (around an Anthony Volpe single) in the 2nd. His slider was once again Bradish’s best pitch in Game 162. When he got José Caballero to swing through a 3-2 slider to start the 3rd, it was Bradish’s fifth punch out of the game, all on his slider.
After setting down eight of the next nine hitters after the Rice home run, Bradish finally ran into some more trouble in the 4th. Judge led off the inning with a single up the middle and then moved to second when Bellinger slapped a single the other way into LF. After loading the count against Giancarlo Stanton, Bradish tried to run a sinker in on Stanton’s hands, but the New York DH fought it off, punching it into left to score Judge and tie the game at two.
The former ace’s final flourish of 2025 was Bradish at his best. With two on and no one out, Bradish struck out the last three batters he’d face this season, stranding Bellinger and Stanton and keeping the game at 2-2. After throwing 69 pitches through four innings, interim manager Tony Mansolino pulled Bradish in favor of Keegan Akin, capping his final line of the season at 4 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB and 8 K.
The 29-year-old finished his 2025 season with 32 IP, a 2.53 ERA, a .200 average against and 47 K (13.2 K/9). When Bradish began his end-of-season cameo after coming back from Tommy John surgery, most Orioles fans wanted any indication that Bradish could be a significant contributor in the 2026 rotation. He showed that and more, as his 32 innings served as an announcement that he’s ready to reclaim his role as this staff’s ace.
The Yankees’ win ultimately didn’t affect their playoff position, as the Blue Jays’ 13-4 win over the Rays saw Toronto secure the AL East crown and the number one seed in the American League playoffs. New York will enter the postseason as the AL’s top wildcard team and square off against the Red Sox later this week in the Bronx. Baltimore will now return home, left with more questions than answers after one of the most disappointing seasons in MLB.
