NEW YORK—After the Orioles’ lost their sixth of seven games on Tuesday night, manager Brandon Hyde emphasized that the team had to play better in its final five games before the All-Star break.
The Orioles won handily on Wednesday night, 6-3, and on Thursday, they scored 13 runs in the first four innings in their 14-1 win over the New York Yankees before an announced crowd of 39,766 at Yankee Stadium.
Gunnar Henderson became the second Oriole to get four hits in the first four innings and the first since Cedric Mullins on April 4th, 2021 per the Elias Sports Bureau. Henderson hit two home runs and drove in five runs. It was his first multi-home run game, and first four-hit and five-RBI game.
“I just felt like I had a lot of at-bats in the game, and it wasn’t even halfway over,” Henderson said. “I ended up with seven on the day, so that was pretty funny.”
Henderson started the game with a leadoff home run, his first.
“That was amazing,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s got so much power. To be able to go opposite field the way he did the top of the first, just spraying the ball around hard. It’s a really exciting young player with a ton of tools.”
Ryan O’Hearn drove in four runs, matching a career high.
The Orioles (51-35) leave New York with a four-game lead over the Yankees (48-40) in the American League wild-card race, the same lead they came into the Bronx with.
In the third, the Orioles had their second biggest inning of the season when they scored seven runs. On May 24th, they had an eight-run seventh in a 9-6 win at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s very fun,” Henderson said. “Because we were kind of stuck offensive-wise. To be able to come out and do that in a big way and split the series on the road is really big.”
The Orioles added five runs in the fourth.
Yankee starter Luis Severino (1-4) allowed seven runs on 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Their 14 runs and 20 hits each were season highs.
“A ton of great at-bats, and we scored a ton of runs,” Hyde said.
In the third, they had eight hits, which was their most since August 12th, 2017 at Oakland.
Oriole starter Kyle Bradish (5-4) pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits. Bradish’s start will get overlooked, but he had to sit through through extended innings before he could pitch again.
“It’s tough to get into a rhythm, but I’ll take that any day I pitch,” Bradish said. “It’s not so much staying loose, just staying locked in. Forty-five minutes between innings, your mind tends to wander, and you get caught up watching the game. Great offensive performance.”
In the eighth inning with a 14-0 lead, Hyde was ejected after home plate umpire Dan Iassogna warned both benches after a pitch by Wandy Peralta hit Colton Cowser.
“That’s my weirdest ejection of all time, up two touchdowns,” Hyde said. “If they were going to put a warning out, I didn’t understand why they didn’t throw him out if they thought it deemed a warning. I was going to ask that. I got ejected for coming out for that. I didn’t know that was an ejectable offense.”
Notes: Aaron Hicks was scratched with left Achilles soreness. … Eduardo Bazardo allowed the only run in the ninth. He became the 43rd player used by the Orioles this season. … The Orioles will play three games in Minnesota. Cole Irvin (1-3, 6.32) will start on Friday night against Bailey Ober (5-4, 2.70). On Saturday, Tyler Wells (8-4, 3.19) will start against Sonny Gray (4-2, 2.50). On Sunday, Kyle Gibson (8-6, 4.73) will start against Joe Ryan (3-5, 3.42). Friday night’s game will begin at 8:10 and will be shown exclusively on Apple TV+. The Saturday and Sunday games will begin at 2:10 p.m.
Minor league update: Justin Armbruester (1-1) allowed five runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings as Triple-A Norfolk lost to Durham, 6-4. Ryan McKenna played his first game of the season for the Tides, going 1-for-4.
Double-A Bowie was held to two hits in a 4-0 loss to Richmond.
Rightfielder Max Costes hit two home runs and drove in four runs, and catcher Creed Willems hit a three-run homer and drove in four as High-A Aberdeen beat Greensboro, 11-7.
First baseman Anderson De Los Santos hit a grand slam for Single-A Delmarva’s runs in the Shorebirds’ 8-4 loss to Fredericksburg.