The O’s squandered a bunch of scoring opportunities and the bullpen couldn’t hold in the eighth, sealing a losing series and road trip.
Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that the 2025 Orioles are still bad.
The O’s let a highly winnable game — and series, and road trip — slip away with a frustrating 4-2 loss to the Yankees in the rubber match. After scoring two runs in the first, the Birds’ offense vanished for the rest of the day, while Dean Kremer’s strong effort was ruined by a Bryan Baker collapse in a three-run Yankees eighth.
I’m going to take things out of order and start this recap with the eighth inning, an all-around calamitous frame in which the O’s offense blew a golden opportunity to pad a slim lead and then the O’s bullpen (and defense) immediately gave it up.
The scene: the Orioles were clinging to a 2-1 lead in the eighth, and began the top of the inning with back-to-back walks against Yankees lefty Tim Hill. This was their big chance to add at least one insurance run, if not two or more. They couldn’t afford to let it slip away.
So what happened? The Yankees brought in right-hander Fernando Cruz, and the rest of the inning played out thusly: Ramón Laureano swinging strikeout. Colton Cowser swinging strikeout. Cedric Mullins swinging strikeout. No runner scored. No runner even advanced. Just a complete failure to put bat to ball and make things happen. Great job by Cruz, who has a ridiculous 14.4 K/9 rate this season, but yeesh. If you’re wondering why the 2025 Orioles are in the basement of the AL East, there’s your answer.
The Yankees, too, strung together an eighth-inning rally, and unlike the Orioles, they knew exactly what to do with it. Against O’s setup man Bryan Baker, who has had a heavy workload of late, they put two of the first three runners on base with sharp singles. Jazz Chisholm then delivered the decisive blow, a gapper deep to right-center that plated both runners and flipped the lead to the Yankees, 3-2. Welp.
The demoralized Orioles let another run score on a sloppy play. Chisholm broke for the plate on a grounder to short and Gunnar Henderson’s throw home was in plenty of time to nail him…except Gary Sánchez flat-out dropped the ball. Just dropped it! Sánchez was charged with an error and Baker with an unearned run, and the O’s were well and truly cooked. Their offense went down quietly against Devin Williams in the ninth, and that was that.
It shouldn’t have gotten to that point. Early on, the Orioles offense showed no sign of the dismal failure that was to come, as they jumped on Yankees starter Will Warren with a two-run rally in the first. Jackson Holliday singled and Ramón Urías was hit by a pitch, though Holliday doused some cold water on the rally by getting picked off of second base.
Still, Gunnar Henderson worked a walk and Ryan O’Hearn laced a first-pitch RBI single. Two batters later, Cowser dumped a double to left that plated Henderson, making it a 2-0 game. I would love to know how that inning would’ve played out if Holliday hadn’t gotten picked off, but whatever, I’m sure that won’t come back to haunt them later.
If you thought the Orioles would continue to keep up the pressure on Warren after that productive first inning, then…hi, you must be new here. Of course they didn’t! They barely even made him work. Warren fired off five consecutive scoreless innings. Sheesh. The O’s offense needs to do better against the Will Warrens of the world.
With just 78 pitches after six innings, Warren pitched into the seventh for only the second time in his career. Dylan Carlson tagged him for a leadoff double, but of course nothing became of it. Warren struck out Sánchez and then was pulled for Hill, who quickly dispatched Holliday and Urías to strand the runner.
Fortunately, Dean Kremer made two paltry runs of support hold up. The O’s right-hander delivered a strong performance, continuing his career-long mastery at Yankee Stadium, where he had a career 2.70 ERA in four starts entering today.
The Yankees’ only run against Kremer came on a scary play in the second. With two outs, Chisholm roped a double to right. DJ LeMahieu followed with a sharp single to left and Chisholm steamed toward the plate as Cowser came up firing. Colton’s throw pulled catcher Maverick Handley up the third-base line just as the runner arrived. Chisholm — whose shoe had come off as he rounded third base — collided with Handley so hard that Maverick’s mask went flying and the ball was knocked loose.
Chisholm reached home safely while the O’s training staff came out to check on a dazed Handley, who ultimately came out of the game. Ugh. Get well soon, Maverick. This was his first start since the O’s recalled him after Adley Rutschman’s injury, and now he’s out, too, further depleting the Orioles’ catching depth. That’s how Sánchez, who was supposed to have the day off, came into the game and later committed that fateful error. (Also, if you’re wondering if a potential Handley IL stint could mean a promotion for Samuel Basallo, don’t hold your breath. But could I interest you in Chadwick Tromp?)
Kremer ultimately worked 5.2 innings and allowed just that one run, getting some help from Keegan Akin, who got the last out of the sixth to strand his two inherited baserunners. If the Orioles’ offense were at all functional, Kremer should have easily won this game.
The O’s bullpen even had one of those patented pitch-ourselves-into-trouble-and-somehow-escape moments in the seventh, when Seranthony Domínguez put two runners on base for Aaron Judge and then struck him out a 3-2 splitter. That might have been the most dramatic at-bat of the game if the Orioles hadn’t so thoroughly ruined it in that fateful, awful eighth.
Add another dumb loss to the Orioles’ 2025 tally. U-G-L-Y, the O’s ain’t got no alibi.